LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Figures, Motherhood & Family

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving and drypoint, with red stencil, and red, blue and gray watercolor additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 10 13/16 x 8 5/16" (27.5 x 21.1 cm); sheet: 15 7/16 x 11 1/8" (39.2 x 28.2 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known variant impressions of state VI

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state VIII on fabric.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state V in drypoint: female figure's hair further delineated.
Additions by stencil: female figure's body filled in.
Additions in red watercolor: baby's body filled in, anticipating state IX.
Additions in blue watercolor: oval border delineated, anticipating state IX.
Additions in gray watercolor: female figure's and baby's hair reinforced, anticipating state IX.

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:

1426.2012

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY