Cat. No. 838, unique variant 1
Eccentric Growth I
- State/Variant:
- Unique variant
- Date:
- 2006
- Themes:
- Abstraction, Nature
- Techniques:
- Etching
- Description:
- Soft ground etching, with selective wiping, and red ink, tan and white gouache, red pencil, and pencil additions
- Support:
- Smooth, wove handmade paper
- Dimensions:
- plate (a): 55 1/2 × 9 13/16" (141 × 25 cm); plate (b): 55 1/8 × 7 7/8" (140 × 20 cm); sheet: 58 1/2 × 38 1/8" (148.6 × 96.8 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (b): "Louise Bourgeois" right lower margin, pencil.
- Inscription:
- panel (a): "Eccentric growth" left lower margin, pencil, artist's hand. Verso: "# I" center sheet, colored pencil, artist's hand.
- Publisher:
- Osiris, New York
- Printer:
- Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
- Edition:
- Unique
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- There are 8 unique variants titled "Eccentric Growth" I–VI and VIII–IX. According to the Louise Bourgeois Studio, "Eccentric Growth VII" was destroyed by the artist.
- State Changes and Additions:
- Matrices:
These unique variants were made using 2 plates printed side by side in different layouts. All include extensive hand additions. These plates were also printed alone and issued as 2 separate compositions, which are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.
panel (a): plate from "Leaves”
panel (b): plate from "Swaying” - 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 plate dimensions are from impressions without hand additions in MoMA's Collection. The verso inscription could not be fully documented due to framing.
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist and Osiris, New York
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 168.2018
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY