LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Lithography

Description:

Photolithograph

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

composition: 12 3/16 x 5 3/8" (31 x 13.7 cm); sheet: 12 3/16 x 8 3/8" (31 x 21.3cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois" at lower rignt of composition, reproduced.

Publisher:

Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris

Printer:

Atelier Lelong, Paris

Edition:

2000

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Version 1 of this composition was published in 1984.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from version 1: composition transferred to a new plate, in photolithography; artist's signature added to lower right of composition.

Background:

Galerie Maeght Lelong, Paris, issued a signed edition of version 1 in conjunction with the 1984 exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Retrospective 1947-84." The following year, version 2 was issued in an edition with printed signature and was included in the exhibition catalogue, which was released as part of a Galerie Maeght Lelong publication series: "repères: cahiers d'art contemporain, no. 19."

The composition "Inner Life," seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue, was also issued in 2 corresponding editions for the aforementioned exhibition.

Artist’s Remarks:

When discussing the untitled 1950 related drawing, illustrated below: "These are sheaves hanging from the ceiling and they trail together. They do not need to be grounded anymore. They don't have to; they hang. When they hang, it is because they can't find an equilibrium on the floor, so they find another point of reference on the ceiling. The ceiling suggests that you have a different kind of permanence. It is a search for equilibrium, and you have it if the things hang, whereas the floor has revealed itself to be a difficult situation because people can push you over. Since you are drawn to a point, you're very vulnerable.

The image of sheaves comes from a strange childhood memory. My parents were very proud of their garden, so there was a lot of gardening activity, and a lot of these things were, sure enough, hung from the ceiling. They would thread the string beans and hang them in the attic. And in the middle of the winter, it was a delight and a claim to fame to have these string beans to cook. It was a delectation." (Quote cited in Bourgeois, Louise and Lawrence Rinder. "Louise Bourgeois Drawings and Observations." Berkeley: University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive University of California, Berkeley; Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1995, p. 92.)

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 77

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

177.1994.1

This Work in Other Collections:

Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN
Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY