LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Fabric Works

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

panel (a): Soft ground etchings
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with red gouache additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions (see Curatorial Remarks)
panel (f): Pencil
panel (g): Soft ground etching, with red gouache additions

Support:

panel (a): Fabric over paper
panels (b), (c), (d), (f), and (g): Smooth, wove handmade paper
panel (e): Fabric over paper

Dimensions:

plate (a), (c), (e), and (g) (each): 60 3/16 × 15 3/4" (152.8 × 40 cm); plate (e): 60 1/4 × 18 13/16" (153 × 47.8 cm); sheet: 61 3/4 × 135" (156.8 × 342.9 cm)

Signature:

panel (c): "LB" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (e): "LB" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (g): "LB" lower right comp., pencil.

Inscription:

panel (b): "to be hurt / or / the fear to be hurt" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "what hurts? / to be abandonned [sic] / to be criticized / to be attacked / to be asked too much / to be used / to be refused" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (f): "to be found out / to fail / to be discouraged / to be ignored / to be laughed at" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
This 7-panel composition uses 2 plates that were issued as separate editions. They are listed below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a): plate from "Knots"
There are 2 impressions on this panel, one printed on sheer fabric that overlaps one printed on paper.

panel (c): plate from "Knots"
For this panel, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the impressions of the only state in MoMA's Collection.

panel (e): plate from "The Twist" and "Knots"
"The Twist" is printed on sheer fabric that overlaps "Knots" printed on paper.

panel (g): plate from "Knots"
For this panel, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the impressions of the only state in MoMA's Collection.

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 composition is one of 3 that constitute a single work of art. All of these compositions are to be exhibited together in the indicated sequence.

Curatorial Remarks:

The plate dimensions are from the impressions in MoMA's Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

The hand additions on panel (e) are on the paper, which is covered by fabric. It is thus difficult to determine the mediums of the hand additions. The hand additions might be red gouache or watercolor additions.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY