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Felix Harlan, of Harlan & Weaver, New York, remembers making test printings of distressed plates to determine if the plates were suitable for use. Two such test printings were used by the artist to develop the source drawings for this composition.
The composition was eventually executed on the same plate seen in the second source drawing. An additional test printing of this oval plate on smooth, wove paper, is in the MoMA Collection (Accession Number: 6.2009). It is not illustrated here because it does not have any hand additions.
Other Remarks:
According to Jerry Gorovoy, the artist's assistant, Bourgeois found it very reassuring to declare her affection for her loved ones, and to receive their love in return. In addition to the prints and drawings that demonstrate this, the three untitled 1989 sculptures (seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums) also explore this idea, and show a rare use of text in the artist's sculpture.
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