LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Architecture, Figures, Objects

Techniques:

Aquatint, Drypoint, Engraving, Etching

Description:

Etching, engraving, drypoint and aquatint, with pink watercolor, black and blue ink, and blue carbon additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 16 3/4" (30.2 x 42.6 cm); sheet: 16 1/4 x 21 1/16" (41.2 x 53.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

6 known impressions of version 2, state VIII

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of version 3.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
The progression of version 2 of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 2 plates.
Plate 1: linear elements of composition; printed in black or red.
Plate 2: overall shading of background; printed in blue.

Print State Changes:
Plate 1 printed in black, over plate 2 printed in blue.
Changes from version 1, in etching and engraving: composition transferred to a new plate; figures refined overall.
Changes from version 2, state VII, in drypoint: large areas of shading added to figures.

Background:

"Eight in Bed" developed out of another composition with seven figures in a bed. That imagery dealt with a childhood memory of times when the artist and her two siblings, along with two cousins who lived with them, would join her parents in bed. According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, there was no specific symbolic meaning to the addition of thie eighth (and in some studies, ninth) figure; it was simply part of her further experimentation with the composition.

Curatorial Remarks:

The photocopy studies for this composition indicate that it derived from the Untitled composition, plate 5, from the illustrated book "Metamorfosis" (seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue). The two compositions could have been catalogued as Versions in one Evolving Composition Diagram. They were catalogued separately because Untitled, plate 5, is from an illustrated book, making it difficult to present the two compositions as one.

Other Remarks:

According to the artist's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the subject of beds stems not only from their symbolic resonance for Bourgeois but also from her interest in their geometric and architectural forms. The bed motif is found in Bourgeois's drawings, sculptures, and installations, as well as in her prints (see Related Works in Other Mediums).

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

766.2008

This Work in Other Collections:

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, MA

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY