LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Animals & Insects

Techniques:

Aquatint, Drypoint

Description:

left side (a): drypoint, engraving, and aquatint, with cream chine collé; right side (b): drypoint and engraving, with cream chine collé

Support:

Smooth, wove Arches Cover paper with Hiromi Shikibu chine collé

Dimensions:

plate (a): 14 x 10" (35.2 x 25.2 cm); plate (b): 14 x 10" (35.2 x 25.2 cm); sheet (overall): 18 1/4 x 25 1/2" (46.3 x 64.7 cm)

Signature:

left side (a): "Louise Bourgeois 2005" lower middle margin, pencil; right side (b): "Louise Bourgeois 2005" lower right margin, pencil.

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

35; plus 7 A.P., 5 P.P., 2 H.C., 1 B.A.T., 1 T.P.

Impression:

"hc 1/2" lower left margin, pencil, unknown hand

Edition Information:

This composition was also issued as a published edition at version 3, state II, titled "Le Chat."

There are 5 known diptych impressions, outside the edition. Diptychs outside the editon are combinations of the first and second versions of this composition, at various states.

State Changes and Additions:

Left side (a): Version 1, state VII
Changes from version 1, state VI, by burnishing: four nipples on cat’s left abdomen removed.
Changes from version 1, state VI, in drypoint: fur added to cat’s back; nipples redrawn.

Right side (b): Version 2, state VIII
Changes from version 1: version 1, state I composition inverted and transferred to a new, identically sized plate, in drypoint.
Changes from version 2, state VII, by burnishing: right eye removed; left paw partially removed; back of neck narrowed; and contours softened overall.
Changes from version 2, state VII, in drypoint: tail, right eye, and left paw reconfigured; shading and fur added overall; whiskers reinforced.
Changes from version 2, state VII, in aquatint: shading added overall.

Background:

In the 1950s, when Bourgeois was living with her husband and children in an apartment on 18th Street in New York City, the family had two cats: Champfleurette and Tyger.

Installation Remarks:

These two compositions constitute a single work of art. They are to be framed together approximately one inch apart, with a continuous horizon line.

Curatorial Remarks:

It appears that the unique shading seen on the female cat's fur was created by using fine strokes of stop-out varnish or asphaltum before aquatint was added to the plate.

Although the development of the Male and Female diptych has been divided into first and second versions for clarity, Bourgeois worked on both plates concurrently.

Other Remarks:

According to printer Felix Harlan, the third, smaller version in the Evolving Composition Diagram was initially created as a test plate. Aquatint was being considered to add shading to the male cat. Ultimately, Bourgeois decided against aquatint for the shading, but she liked the compositional fragment on the test plate. She added the contour of the cat's body and editioned this version as "Le Chat" on handmade paper.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the Artist

MoMA Accession Number:

328.2009.a-b

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY