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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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Cat. No. 422.1

Summer

State/Variant:
Version 1 of 2, only state
Date:
1941-1942
Alternate Title:
Interior; Drawing at a Table
Themes:
Animals & Insects, Architecture, Figures, Nature, Objects
Techniques:
Lithography
Description:
Lithograph
Support:
Smooth, wove Rives paper
Dimensions:
composition: 8 3/16 x 10 13/16" (20.8 x 27.5 cm); sheet: 11 7/16 x 15 7/8" (29 x 40.3 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right margin, pencil.
Inscription:
"Summer 1941" lower right margin, pencil, artist's hand.

The alternate title "Interior" derives from an inscription on an impression of version 2, only state, not in MoMA's Collection and not included in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.
Publisher:
The artist
Printer:
The Art Students League of New York
Edition:
3 known impressions of version 1, only state.
Impression:
"1/12" right lower margin, pencil, artist's hand.
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of version 2, only state.

Although there are 3 known impressions of version 1, only state, this impression is numbered 1/12, and others are numbered 5/12 and 6/12.

The additional known impressions of version 1, only state, are not in MoMA's Collection and are not reproduced here.
Background:
This composition depicts the country house in Easton, Connecticut that Bourgeois and her family purchased in 1941; it remains in the family.

American painter and printmaker, Will Barnet (1911-2012) was the master printer at The Art Students League and printed Bourgeois's lithographs.
Artist’s Remarks:
In referring to her early prints of people and interiors, Bourgeois said: “I love portraits. I never used a camera. This was my way of recording my life.” (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Musem of Modern Art, 1994, p. 48)
Curatorial Remarks:
In addition to lithographic crayon, some areas of version 1, only state are printed using liquid tusche (see center left, center, and right composition).

The alternate title, "Drawing at a Table," comes from the brochure checklist of a 1992 exhibition at the Susan Teller Gallery, New York, titled, "Printed by Will Barnet."

The alternate title, "Interior One Child," is cited in Wye and Smith, "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois," 1994, but could not be further substantiated. It has been dropped from the documentation of this print.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 13.1
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
235.1992.1
This Work in Other Collections:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Summer
1941-1942

Source
1941

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Summer. 1941
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Summer
Crayon and pencil on paper
1941

First Version

Published Louise Bourgeois. Summer. 1941-1942
Version 1 of 2, only state
1941-1942

Second Version

Published Louise Bourgeois. Summer. 1941-1942
Version 2 of 2, only state
1941-1942
Published Louise Bourgeois. Summer. 1941-1942
Version 2 of 2, only state, variant
1941-1942