LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Opening Up

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with pencil additions

Support:

Paper

Dimensions:

plate: 55 1/2 × 14 3/4" (141 × 37.5 cm); page (each): 59 1/8 × 19 13/16" (150.1 × 50.4 cm)

Signature:

"LB" left lower sheet verso of cover, stitched in black thread.

Inscription:

"The / Tightening / Agony / withstanding / anything today / to insure / the future / hanging in there" center page, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

This is one of 10 unique variants outside the edition to incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with other plates in multi-panel works. Most include extensive hand additions and sometimes partial inking of the plate. When the plate is used alone, the work is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with other plates, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
Untitled, plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, "Differentiate"
Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, "This Need"
"Elle"
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, "Jalouse"
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, "Have a Little Courage"
"Les Matins Se Lèvent"
Untitled, no. 6 of 6, from the series, "I Give Everything Away"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
"A Stretch of Time"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#2)"
Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, "Jalouse"

About the "Opening Up" edition:
Within the edition, selective wiping varies from impression to impression. There is 1 known variant impression of the only state, outside the edition.

Pagination:

Pages 10 and 11 of 26.

Background:

Benjamin Shiff, the director of the Osiris imprint, collaborated with Bourgeois in a highly experimental phase of printmaking that occupied the last years of her life, from 2005 to 2010. He first established a working relationship with the artist in the 1990s, but the late period is particularly noteworthy for the innovative and complex large-scale projects that evolved at that time. Shiff made use of professional workshops for printing, but he oversaw the creation of the printing plates as Bourgeois worked on them in her home studio. He also provided assistance as she added extensive hand additions and texts, and as she combined individual compositions into multi-panel works and illustrated books.

Curatorial Remarks:

The pagination of this illustrated book was determined by the Louise Bourgeois Studio and the publisher.

The paper type is not documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the editioned impression in MoMA's Collection. The dimensions of the book were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Although "Opening Up" was not editioned until 2008, the plate was developed one year earlier and impressions were included in 2 works completed in 2007.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY