Louise Bourgeois. The Upward Journey (1989-2003)

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Louise Bourgeois. The Upward Journey. 1989-2003

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Cat. No. 1013

The Upward Journey

State/Variant:: Only state
Date:: 1989-2003

Alternate Title:: Ambition Shadowless
Themes:: Architecture
Techniques:: Etching
Description:: Etching, watercolor and gouache additions
Support:: Smooth wove paper, mounted on board
Dimensions:: plate (trimmed; approx.): 8 15/16 × 3 15/16" (22.7 × 10 cm); mount: 23 3/8 × 13 1/2" (59.4 × 34.3 cm)
Signature:: "Louise Bourgeois" right lower margin, pencil.
Inscription:: Verso: "the upward journey"
Publisher:: Osiris, New York
Printer:: Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:: 11; plus an edition of 2 with no hand additions, and an illustrated book edition of 12
Impression:: "hand painted study 1/11" verso.
Edition Information:: In the edition of 11 published impressions with hand additions, each is designated by the artist as a “study.” (Usually in this catalogue, the term “study” describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.)

A separate edition of this composition was published as part of an illustrated book titled, "One's Sleep." The illustrated book includes 18 plates with hand additions. (See Evolving Composition Diagram.)

There are 8 known impressions, outside the editions, from 1989.
Background:: This composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating additional impressions to issue in separate editions and include in the book “One’s Sleep".
Artist’s Remarks:: "The two towers have become very strong and dominate the landscape... they are very powerful... they mean business. Together, the two confront the world... they are omnipotent. There is no intimacy here... they are abstracted... but they don't need intimacy.

The excuse for building this ambition is that you see all kinds of noble virtues in it... the buildings are so clean... so beautiful... so powerful. But if you extend the limits of your ambition, the limits are so far away that you will break in the middle." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 158.)
Curatorial Remarks:: The sheet for this composition has been trimmed down to the plate mark and mounted on a board.

The verso inscription and numbering could not be fully documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person.
MoMA Credit Line:: Gift of The Easton Foundation
MoMA Accession Number:: 562.2016