LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "The Trees"

Themes:

Nature

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Portfolio of 8 drypoints, 5 with hand additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper (5 sheets)
Fabric (3 sheets)

Dimensions:

page (each): 17 15/16 x 13 3/4" (45.5 x 35 cm); overall: 18 1/2 x 14 1/4 x 1" (47 x 36.2 x 2.5 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois / 2004" lower middle colophon, pencil.
"LB" lower right margin (5 sheets), pencil.
"LB" right lower margin (3 sheets), stitched in blue thread.

Inscription:

Title page: "LES ARBRES" upper center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Colophon: "3 prints on cloth" lower middle sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

6 portfolios in the series "Les Arbres"

Impression:

"4/6" lower center colophon, pencil, artist's hand.

Edition Information:

The editioned series of portfolios, "Les Arbres" (1-6), is not a traditional edition in that each portfolio is unique. Varying compositions, hand additions, and sheet sizes occur throughout the portfolios. Portfolio (1) includes 10 compositions, while Portfolios (2-6) each contain 8 compositions.

Included in all 6 portfolios are 5 specific drypoint compositions that appear in the same order. However, the states of these compositions, and their hand additions, vary from portfolio to portfolio.

Portfolio (1) is different from all the others in the series, not only because it includes 10 compositions, but also because 5 of the 10 compositions are drawings. The drypoints are the same 5 compositions noted above as being in every portfolio; the drawings are new compositions entirely.

Portfolios (2-6) each contain 3 drypoint compositions on fabric, in addition to the 5 drypoint compositions noted above. The drypoint compositions on fabric vary from portfolio to portfolio.

Housing:

Portfolio bound by Claudia Cohen Bookbinder, Seattle, WA, with a rough, wove, handmade Dutch paper cover, embossed “LB” on first leaf, with 20 unnumbered pages sewn in of slightly textured, wove handmade Zecchi paper. The prints and drawings on paper are mounted to the portfolio pages with Gampi paper mounting corners. The bound portfolio is housed in corrugated cardboard folder with a linen ribbon.

Colophon printed by Peter Kruty Editions, Brooklyn, NY.

Although the “Les Arbres” (1-6) portfolios are each bound in a book-like format, and both the publisher and the Louise Bourgeois Studio use the terms “portfolio” and “book” interchangeably for this project, it is standard practice in The Museum of Modern Art, NY, Department of Drawings and Prints to classify these works as portfolios due to the absence of any accompanying text.

Curatorial Remarks:

In addition to Nature, this portfolio also includes the theme Fabric Works.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY