LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Les Fleurs (The Flowers)

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with blue, red, and orange watercolor, white gouache, and pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

sheet: 59 1/4 × 39" (150.5 × 99.1 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right comp., pencil.

Inscription:

Verso: "I AM STILL Growing!!! / les fleurs" center sheet, 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. All 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:
"Les Fleurs (#1)"
"Les Fleurs (#2)"
"Les Fleurs (#3)"
"Les Fleurs (#4)"
"Les Fleurs (#5)"
"Les Fleurs (#6)"
"I Am Still Growing (#1)"
Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, "Start Something!!"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#1)"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#2)"

About the "Les Fleurs" edition:
Within the edition, selective wiping, sheet size, and orientation vary from impression to impression. Impression nos. 1/9, 2/9, 4/9, 6/9, and 7/9 are oriented in the same direction as the impression of the only state, outside the edition, without hand additions. Impression nos. 3/9, 5/9, 8/9, and 9/9 are oriented in the same direction as the impression of the only state, outside the edition, with hand additions. Both are seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
For this impression, only minor areas of the plate were inked.

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:

Plate dimensions are not given due to partial inking.

Although the numbering in the title suggests that it is part of a group, this work is the only known unique variant with this title.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY