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There are variations in the fabrics used in the 4 known impressions that use this text, as is commonly found in the old fabrics Bourgeois chose to use as printing surfaces. Three varying examples are seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram; the fourth example is not reproduced because the artist gave it away as a gift before it could be photographed and documented.
Background:
The text in this composition comes from Bourgeois's voluminous writings—in her diaries, on loose sheets, or on the verso of drawings. The specific source and date of this text are not known.
During the early 2000s, Bourgeois worked with SOLO Impression on the editioned version of "Ode à l'oubli," a book of fabric collages and two lithographed text pages. The phrases on those text pages came from her writings. Inspired by that collaboration, Bourgeois created several individual printed fabric works with lithographed texts.
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