LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 59 × 14 3/16" (149.9 × 36 cm); sheet: 59 5/16 × 14 3/4" (150.7 × 37.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

3 known variant impressions of the only state, outside the unique variants

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition.

Aside from the 3 known variant impressions of the only state, there are 4 unique variants that incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with another plate in a multi-panel work. They all include hand additions. When the plate is used alone, the work is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with another plate, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
Untitled, no. 5 of 11, from the series, "Extreme Tension"
"The God of Fertility"
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, "The Voice Says Yes"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, "Start Something!!"

There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.

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.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

982.2011

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY