Cat. No. 419.1/V, variant 1
Dream
- State/Variant:
- Version 1 of 2, state V of X, variant
- Date:
- 1939
- Alternate Title:
-
Sleeping Girl
- Themes:
- Architecture, Figures, Objects
- Techniques:
- Relief
- Description:
- Woodcut
- Support:
- Smooth, wove Japanese paper
- Dimensions:
- composition: 10 3/16 x 14 1/2" (25.9 x 36.8 cm); sheet: 12 x 16 7/16" (30.5 x 41.8 cm)
- Signature:
- Not signed
- Inscription:
- The alternate title "Sleeping Girl" derives from an inscription on another known impression of this composition.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- The artist
- Edition:
- 2 known variant impressions of version 1, state V
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Not issued as a published edition at any state.
Matrices:
The progression of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 6 blocks and 14 colors.
Block 1: woman, table, vase, wall, and floor.
Block 2: linear pattern in lower right composition and amorphous pattern in upper left composition.
Block 3: background surface with cut-away area encompassing woman and table.
Block 4: geometric pattern in upper left, abstract pattern in top center, and abstract form in bottom center.
Block 5: recut image of block 1.
Block 6: recut image of block 2. - State Changes and Additions:
- Block 1 printed in black, over block 3 printed in olive.
Change from version 1, state IV: block 3 added. - Artist’s Remarks:
- “Dream is a self-portrait,” Bourgeois said, “a portrait of a mood, a very dark mood. The woman is crying. She is homesick. She is probably waiting for a letter, a letter that never comes.” (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 41.)
- Former Cat. No.:
- W & S 7
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 230.1992.5
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY