LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with ink, watercolor, and pencil additions

Support:

Paper

Dimensions:

plate (in 2 vertical parts) (overall): 59 1/4 × 35 1/2" (150.5 × 90.2 cm); sheet: 60 3/8 × 39 1/2" (153.4 × 100.3 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right comp., pencil.

Inscription:

Verso: "Swelling I"

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

This is one of 7 unique variants outside the edition to incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with other plates in multi-panel works. 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:
"Swelling I"
"Swelling II"
"Swelling (#3)"
Untitled, no. 3 of 6, from the series, "I Give Everything Away"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
"Love Is As Big As the Sky"
Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, "Jalouse"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#5)"

About the "Swelling" edition:
Within the edition of diptychs, selective wiping is consistent throughout.

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 color of hand additions, verso inscription, and type of paper could not be fully documented because this impression is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the impression on paper in MoMA’s Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY