Cat. No. 506.3/I
Le Chat
- State/Variant:
- Version 3 of 3, state I of II
- Date:
- c. 2004
- Themes:
- Animals & Insects, Body Parts
- Techniques:
- Aquatint, Engraving
- Description:
- Engraving, and aquatint
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 4 5/16 x 4 5/16" (10.9 x 11 cm); sheet: 10 x 8 1/4" (25.4 x 21 cm)
- Signature:
- Not signed
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Harlan & Weaver, New York
- Edition:
- 2 known impressions of version 3, state I
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Proof before the editioning of version 3, state II. This fragmented composition, in its full form, and with a companion composition, was also issued as a published diptych, "Male and Female," seen below as diptych 6 in the Evolving Composition Diagram.
- State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from version 2: composition detail transferred to a smaller plate without contour lines, in aquatint and engraving.
- 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.
- Curatorial Remarks:
- It is conceivable that there were one or more states prior to this one, as this state includes two separate intaglio processes and a printer's inscription which reads "state 3." However, no known impressions of earlier states exist.
- 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:
- 1505.2012
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY