LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Figures, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving and drypoint, with red stencil, gray watercolor, and red ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 10 7/8 x 8 3/8" (27.7 x 21.3 cm); sheet: 15 1/2 x 11 1/8" (39.3 x 28.3 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, pencil.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known variant impressions of state VI

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state VIII on fabric.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state V in drypoint: female figure's hair further delineated.
Additions by stencil: female figure's body filled in.
Additions in gray watercolor: female figure's hair and baby's hair reinforced, anticipating state VII.

Background:

"Umbilical Cord" relates to a monumental installation for the inaugural exhibition in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2000. The installation consisted of "Maman," a 30' steel sculpture of a spider, and "I Do, I Undo, I Redo," three steel towers ranging in height from 42' to 57'. Each tower contained a different sculpture of a mother and child inside a bell jar. The sculpture in the tower titled, "I Redo," featured a mother and child attached by an umbilical cord. Bourgeois also made another related print called "Do Not Abandon Me," 2000, which includes a similar mother and child.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1461.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY