LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Fabric Works, Faces & Portraits, Figures

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Fabric

Dimensions:

plate: 4 15/16 x 3 3/8" (12.5 x 8.6 cm); sheet: 15 1/2 x 12 1/2" (39.4 x 31.8 cm)

Signature:

"LB" right lower margin, stitched in brown thread.

Publisher:

The artist

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

5; plus 1 A.P.

Impression:

"No. 3/5" lower middle sheet verso, black ink, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

All 24 sheets that comprise set no. 1/5 are mounted on a single large table cloth and arranged in the formation of a clock. See the first work titled "Self Portrait" in Related Works in the Catalogue below. That composition includes, above the clock, at top left, one additional drypoint printed by Harlan & Weaver, New York, and at top middle and top right, two digital prints printed by Dyenamix, New York. Set nos. 2/5–5/5 and A.P. 1/1 do not include these three additional prints.

There are variations in the fabrics used in this edition, as is commonly found in the old fabrics Bourgeois chose to use as printing surfaces.

Dimensions vary slightly throughout the edition because of hemming and stretching fluctuations.

There is 1 known impression of state II, outside the edition. That impression is incorporated in the fabric work, "Self Portrait." See the second work in Related Works in the Catalgue below.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, by burnishing: back of upper right leg removed.
Changes from state I, in drypoint: right buttocks and toes delineated.

Background:

This series depicts the story of Bourgeois’s life. Beginning with an image of a young girl, it progresses through marriage and having children, and finally, to predominant themes in the artist's work.

Installation Remarks:

The 24 compositions that make up this series can be exhibited together or individually.

Curatorial Remarks:

There are no source drawings for this series, unlike for many of Bourgeois's prints.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

110.2012.19

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY