LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "To Infinity"

Themes:

Abstraction, Body Parts, Figures, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

Soft ground etching, with hand additions

Support:

Smooth, thick wove paper

Dimensions:

plate (in 2 horizontal parts): 35 11/16 × 59 7/8" (90.7 × 152.1 cm); sheet: 40 × 60" (101.6 × 152.4 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.

Inscription:

"un bébé / à l'infini" lower right comp., red pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Set 2

Edition Information:

This sheet is from installation set 2 of 2 titled "À l'Infini." The sheets in both installation sets were made from the same plate used in the edition "Love and Kisses," seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

For "À l'Infini," the plate was partially inked and placed in a horizontal position, varying in orientation throughout each set. For the "Love and Kisses" edition, the plate was fully inked and placed in the vertical position.

To clarify how the artist used this plate, the sheets from "À l'Infini" sets 1 and 2 are organized by their orientation (A or B) in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

"À l'Infini" (set 1), 14 sheets: 8 in horizontal A; 6 in horizontal B.

"À l'Infini" (set 2), 16 sheets: 9 in horizontal A; 7 in horizontal B.

There are also 3 studies, separate from the 2 installation sets of "À l'Infini." Bourgeois and the publisher designated these works as studies because they are independent from the larger installation sets. Usually, throughout this catalogue, the term "study" describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.

Outside the edition of "Love and Kisses," there is 1 known unique variant with hand additions made from the same plate, in the same vertical orientation. It is seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

In this installation set:
In horizontal A: nos. 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, and 16
In horizontal B: nos. 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 12, and 13.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
Printed in black.

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.

Installation Remarks:

This sheet is one of 16 that constitute a single work of art. Preferably, the sheets are exhibited in 2 horizontal rows (with odd numbers in the top row and even numbers in the bottom row). Depending on space considerations, the set can also be installed in a single line in the indicated sequence, or in another arrangement that honors that sequence.

Curatorial Remarks:

The mediums of the hand additions could not be documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the impression of "Love and Kisses" in MoMA's Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

According to the Louise Bourgeois Studio, the set number is inscribed on the verso of each sheet.

Bibliography:

Küster, Ulf. "Louise Bourgeois." Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2011, 106-117.

This volume was published on the occasion of an exhibition of the artist's works at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland, held from September 2011 to January 2012. The exhibition marked the artist's 100th birthday, and juxtaposed her works with those of other artists she knew personally and with whom she had a special kinship. The chapter "A l'Infini" [sic] describes set 1 and how it relates to the work of Alberto Giacometti.

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London and National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh (this set jointly owned; on long-term loan by Artist Rooms Foundation 2013)

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY