LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Bed #1; Bed I

Themes:

Architecture, Objects

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving, Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, drypoint and engraving, with blue and green ink, pencil, and white gouache additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Somerset paper

Dimensions:

plate: 16 3/8 x 19 3/4" (41.6 x 50.1 cm); sheet: 20 3/16 x 22 15/16" (51.2 x 58.2 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known variant impressions of version 2, state I

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of version 2, state IV. This composition was also issued as published editions at version 3, state X and version 3, state XI.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from version 1, in soft ground etching: composition transferred to new plate by tracing photocopy of first source drawing onto copper plate.
Changes from version 1, in engraving: floorboards added and lines in bedspread refined.
Changes from version 1, in drypoint: bed frame shaded and composition reinforced overall.
Additions in black ink and green watercolor: bed frame shaded, anticipating version 2, state IV; lines in bedspread reinforced, anticipating version 2, state III.
Additions in white gouache: bedskirt masked, anticipating version 2, state II.
Additions in pencil: bed leg elongated, anticipating version 2, state III.

Background:

Version 2, state IV of this composition was published as a benefit for the Rivington House branch of Village Care of New York (previously Village Center for Care). Version 3, state XI of this composition was published as a benefit for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscribed on the verso of the source drawing: "Aug 20th Wardrobe Series / Les dessin de lit ne sont pas mal, mais des sacs de matelas seraient mieux, dessins de lit, the more, the better. Ce dessin n'est pas assez exact."

"Two things you count in one's erotic life: dinner table and bed. The table where your parents made you suffer. And the bed where you lie with your husband, where your children were born and you will die. Essentially, since they are about the same size, they are the same object." (Quote cited in Munro, Eleanor. "Originals: American Women Artists." New York: Simon and Schuster,1979, pp. 154-9.)

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).

According to Wendy Williams of the Louise Bourgeois Studio, this composition was the source for the plaster and steel sculpture, "Arched Couple," 1999, seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1388.2008

This Work in Other Collections:

Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY