LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Safety Pins; The Burning Pin

Themes:

Abstraction, Spirals

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with burn marks

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 14 7/8" (30.2 x 37.8 cm); sheet: 21 1/4 x 25" (54 x 63.5 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, pencil; "BL [upside down]" upper left comp., in plate.

Inscription:

"the burning pin." lower right margin, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of state II

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state IV.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: large diagonal oval delineated from upper left to lower right composition; additional spiral in lower right enlarged; intersecting diagonal lines added from lower left and right corners; many existing lines reinforced.
Burn additions: centers of several large spirals charred.

Background:

In the late 1980s, when publisher Peter Blum began the portfolio project “Anatomy” with Bourgeois, he sought the assistance of printer Judith Solodkin, of SOLO Impression, a longtime friend of the artist. Solodkin suggested Harlan & Weaver as intaglio printers and she served as supervisor for this project and a number of individual prints at that time. Among these prints were several spiral compositions, including this composition, as well as “To Hide,” “Ambition,” and “Tops,” all seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue.

Artist’s Remarks:

Bourgeois got a ball of twine to demonstrate the concept of these spirals. "This is a way of going on... it is like a thread of thought... or a dance... you go here, you go there... you keep reaching out to others. It is wishful."
As she followed the line, she said, "You can not hurt me... you can not stop me... you can not break my thread of thought. I make it into a pattern... it is a kind of grid... there is order.

"Then there is the safety pin... you can't go wrong with that! I like the idea of the safety pin... it is dangerous, but it also holds up my whole attire. Safety pins can keep things together... they can prevent catastrophe."
(Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 164.)

Curatorial Remarks:

Bourgeois made several works on paper with burn marks in the 1980s and 1990s. See some examples below in Related Works in Other Mediums.

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 96

Public Collection:

Baltimore Museum of Art, The; Cleveland Museum of Art, The; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art; Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY