LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Nature, Words

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Drypoint and engraving, with pencil, black and red ink, blue and red crayon, red and pink watercolor and white correction fluid additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 21 15/16 x 26" (55.7 x 66 cm); sheet: 26 3/16 x 30 1/8" (66.5 x 76.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

Verso: " Mr. BeeBe Suffolk County / newsletter / __________ / Leslie Miller printer and/ Graphic Designer. 29th Street between 6 +7 ave" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of version 2, state I

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of version 2, state IX.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
The progression of this version 2, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 3 plates.

Plate 1: overall composition, printed in black.
Plate 2: hatching in trees, printed in red.
Plate 3: shading along left, upper, and right contours of plate, printed in blue.

State Changes:
Plate 1, printed in black.
Changes from version 1: composition reconfigured and transferred to larger plate, in drypoint.

Background:

Louise Bourgeois, her husband Robert Goldwater, and their son Michel Bourgeois are all buried in Cutchogue Cemetery, Cutchogue, New York. This composition was initially developed as a benefit for The Friends of Cutchogue Cemetery Association, but the benefit did not come to fruition.

Curatorial Remarks:

It is conceivable that there were one or more states of version 2 prior to this one, as this state includes evidence of several lines that have been burnished away. However, no known impressions of earlier states exist.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

1563.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY