LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper (2 sheets, displayed vertically and slightly overlapping at the meeting point)

Dimensions:

composition (upper): 46 7/16 × 10 15/16" (118 × 27.8 cm); sheet (upper): 46 7/16 × 10 15/16" (118 × 27.8 cm); composition (lower): 47 1/8 × 10 15/16" (119.7 × 27.8 cm); sheet (lower): 47 13/16 × 10 15/16" (121.5 × 27.8 cm); sheet (overall): 93 11/16 × 10 15/16" (238 × 27.8 cm) (when exhibited, the upper sheet slightly overlaps the lower sheet to connect the upper and lower halves of the composition)

Signature:

"LB" lower right comp., pencil.

Inscription:

"first proof" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand. Upper sheet verso: "top" lower center sheet, pencil, artist's hand; "(Look Up) / First Proof" lower center sheet, pencil, artist's hand. Lower sheet verso: "Bottom" lower center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

1 known variant impression of the only state, outside the edition

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

“Look Up!” was made with 7 plates arranged vertically. The plates are numbered 1-7 according to their positions in “Look Up!” from top to bottom. Impressions of the individual plates can be seen in the Plates 1-7 row in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. The full “Look Up!” composition is seen in the States row.

In the “Look Up!” edition of 9, selective wiping and sheet size vary from impression to impression. Also, impression number “3/9” is printed on a cream paper, as opposed to the beige paper used for all other impressions in the edition. There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large “X” drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.

The unique variants and the series of installation sets “La Rivière Gentille” (1-3) use only “Look Up!” plates 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 (not 4 and 7). Some unique variants use a single plate while others use a combination. All known unique variants have hand additions and can be seen in the Unique Variants row in the Evolving Composition Diagram. The unique variants in “La Rivière Gentille” are organized separately; panels from all 3 sets are in rows according to which combination of plates is used.

Background:

Benjamin Shiff, the director of the Osiris imprint, collaborated with Bourgeois in a highly experimental phase of printmaking that occupied the last years of her life, from 2005 to 2010. He first established a working relationship with the artist in the 1990s, but the late period is particularly noteworthy for the innovative and complex large-scale projects that evolved at that time. Shiff made use of professional workshops for printing, but he oversaw the creation of the printing plates as Bourgeois worked on them in her home studio. He also provided assistance as she added extensive hand additions and texts, and as she combined individual compositions into multi-panel works and illustrated books.

Osiris put together a grouping of Bourgeois's late, large-scale soft ground etchings under the title "Turning Inwards." Nine sets were announced. Each "Turning Inwards" set is unique, containing a different number of prints. Sets include editioned prints as well as early proofs. Some also have multiple impressions of the same composition, due to differences in inking and wiping.

The "Turning Inwards" sets are not considered formal series that must be shown in their entirety; the prints in each set can be displayed separately.

Set #1 of 9 contains 67 prints and is in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Set #2 contains 43 prints and is in the collection of the Tate Modern. Set #3 contains 38 prints. Set #4 contains 39 prints. The contents of sets #5-9 were not known by MoMA cataloguers, as of 2018.

The title "Turning Inwards" is given to the overall grouping and is also the title of one of the individual compositions within it. Titles that may appear in the various "Turning Inwards" sets are as follows:

1. À Baudelaire
2. Abandoned
3. Accumulations
4. Are You in Orbit? (#1)
5. Are You in Orbit? (#2)
6. The Awakening
7. The Chain of Events
8. The Fall
9. La Famille
10. Les Fleurs
11. I See You!!!
12. Incognito
13. Just Like Me
14. Knots
15. Leaves
16. Let My Children Come
17. Look Up!
18. Losing It
19. Love and Kisses
20. La Maladie de l'Amour
21. My Inner Life
22. My Secret Life
23. The Nest
24. Opening Up
25. The Pacifiers
26. Paddle Woman
27. Passages
28. Pendule
29. The Prey of an Anxiety
30. Sangsue
31. The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)
32. The Smell of Eucalyptus (#2)
33. The Stretch
34. Swaying
35. Swelling
36. Turning Inwards
37. The Twist
38. The Unfolding
39. Up and Up

This impression is in MoMA's set #1 of 9.

Curatorial Remarks:

The partial plate impressions seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram were each numbered by the artist on their versos. However, MoMA cataloguers renumbered the partial plates according to their positions (from top to bottom) in the full composition of the "Look Up!" edition. See the inscriptions on each partial plate impression for the artist's numbering.

Other Remarks:

The full “Look Up!” composition was made with 7 partial plates put together vertically. Impressions of the partial plates are numbered 1-7 and are seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram. The full composition is seen in the states row.

In the “Look Up!” edition of 9, selective wiping and sheet size vary from impression to impression. Also, impression numbered “3/9” (MoMA Accession Number: 269.2011.a-b) is printed on a cream paper, as opposed to the beige paper used for all other impressions in the edition. There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large “X” drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.

The "Look Up!” project also includes 8 unique variants that sometimes use the partial plates alone, and sometimes use different combinations of the partial plates. One such unique variant was used in a series of folio sets titled, “Nothing to Remember.” All the unique variants have extensive hand additions. They are seen below in the Evolving Composition Diagram:

Untitled, no. 7, in Nothing to Remember (set 1), from the series of folio sets (1-6)
“Nous Sommes Cinq”
“Les Trois”
“Look Up!! (#1)” - “Look Up!! (#5)”

Impressions of the partial plates for the “Look Up!” project were also used in an installation series titled, “La Rivière Gentille.” Relevant sheets from the series are seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

268.2011.a-b

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY