Cat. No. 247/IV
Umbilical Cord
- State/Variant:
- State IV of IX
- Date:
- 2000
- Themes:
- Figures, Motherhood & Family
- Techniques:
- Drypoint, Engraving
- Description:
- Engraving and drypoint, with red, blue, and gray watercolor, and pencil additions
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 10 13/16 x 8 3/8" (27.5 x 21.3 cm); sheet: 11 3/16 x 8 3/4" (28.4 x 22.2 cm)
- Signature:
- Not signed
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Harlan & Weaver, New York
- Edition:
- 1 known impression of state IV
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Proof before the editioning of state VIII on fabric.
- State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from state III in engraving: female figure's facial features and thumbs reconfigured; hair surrounding face further delineated; ground lines further delineated, umbilical cord reinforced.
Additions in red watercolor: female figure's body filled in; baby's body filled in, anticipating state IX; both figures' hair further delineated, anticipating state VI.
Additions in blue watercolor: oval border delineated, anticipating state IX.
Additions in gray watercolor: both figures' hair further delineated, anticipating state VI.
Additions in pencil: female figure's hair and hairline further delineated, anticipating state VI. - Background:
- "Umbilical Cord" relates to a monumental installation for the inaugural exhibition in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in 2000. The installation consisted of "Maman," a 30' steel sculpture of a spider, and "I Do, I Undo, I Redo," three steel towers ranging in height from 42' to 57'. Each tower contained a different sculpture of a mother and child inside a bell jar. The sculpture in the tower titled, "I Redo," featured a mother and child attached by an umbilical cord. Bourgeois also made another related print called "Do Not Abandon Me," 2000, which includes a similar mother and child.
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 1425.2012
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY