Cat. No. 761/IV
Embracing the Tree II
- State/Variant:
- State IV of IV
- Date:
- 2003
- Themes:
- Figures, Nature
- Techniques:
- Drypoint, Engraving
- Description:
- Drypoint and engraving
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 9 15/16 x 7 1/2" (25.3 x 19 cm); sheet: 13 3/4 x 11 5/16" (35 x 28.8 cm)
- Signature:
- Not signed
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Harlan & Weaver, New York
- Edition:
- 2 known impressions of state IV
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Not issued as a published edition at any state.
- State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from state III, in drypoint: shading added in shape in upper right composition; two horizontal lines added to lower composition.
Changes from state III, in engraving: large cloud shape, top of tree, and figure reinforced. - Background:
- According to Bourgeois’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the subject of this composition came from a ritual instigated by the artist’s friend, Paulo Herkenhoff, a Brazilian curator and critic, in the late 1990s. In celebration of Easter, Herkenhoff, Gorovoy, and Bourgeois went into her backyard on Good Friday and each kissed the ground. After a few years, it was difficult for the artist to get down to the ground so they modified the ritual and began to embrace a tree instead.
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 1470.2008
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY