LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

The Angry Cat

Themes:

Animals & Insects, Faces & Portraits

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with red ink and pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 9 15/16 x 11 7/8" (25.2 x 30.1 cm); sheet: 11 x 15 1/4" (28 x 38.8cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, red ink.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state I

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state VII.

State Changes and Additions:

Additions in red ink: small, elliptical forms on forehead and mouth shaded, anticipating state II; outlines of eyes and nose reinforced, anticipating state II.
Additions in pencil: eyes and nose shaded, anticipating state II.

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:

States I-VI of this composition are each titled "Champfleurette #2." The editioned state, state VII, is titled "The Angry Cat." (See also the 1993-1994 print, “Champfleurette, The White Cat,” in Related Works in the Catalogue below.)

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition with ten other drypoints of 1999, under the title, “11 Drypoints.” Each of the 11 compositions can be displayed individually. The full set is as follows:
“The Accident”
“The Angry Cat”
“Don’t Put Your Foot in Your Mouth”
“Fear”
“Feet (Socks)”
“Fences Are Obsolete”
“Madeleine”
“Mosquito”
“Mother and Child”
“Please Hang in There”
“The Smell of the Feet”

A tea towel merchandise item was made from a variant of state II (Cat. No. 404/II, variant 1). A mouse pad merchandise item was made from a different variant of state II (Cat. No. 404/II, variant 2). A t-shirt merchandise item was made from state VI (Cat. No. 404/VI).

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

936.2008.1

This Work in Other Collections:

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY