LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Self Portrait

Descriptive Title:

Sculptress

Themes:

Faces & Portraits, Figures, Objects

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with blue ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Somerset paper

Dimensions:

plate: 13 1/8 x 8 1/4" (33.3 x 20.9 cm); sheet: 19 x 12 5/8" (48.3 x 32 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state IV

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state VI.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state III, in drypoint: lines reinforced overall; half circles added to lower composition.
Additions in blue ink: mouth and leftmost half circle added, both anticipating state V.

Background:

Bourgeois was often inspired by the subjects of early drawings when creating works at much later dates. This 1994 portfolio is an example of a project based primarily on drawings from the 1940s and referring to her life in New York at that time. The exceptions are as follows: plate 1, based on a drawing from 1986 that references childbirth; plates 4 and 9, based on drawings from the 1940s but depicting memories of her childhood years in France; plate 11, most probably based on a drawing from the 1940s of a European hotel desk.

Curatorial Remarks:

Of the 14 plates in "Autobiographical Series," Bourgeois titled plates 6 and 12. The untitled plates have been assigned descriptive titles for cataloguing purposes.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

590.1996

This Work in Other Collections:

Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
Museu da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba, Brazil
Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY