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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION

Cat. No. 1274, in 1251

Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!

State/Variant:
Unique variant
Date:
2008
Series:
Start Something!! (View All)
Themes:
Abstraction
Techniques:
Etching
Description:
panel (a): Soft ground etching
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
Support:
Paper
Dimensions:
plate (a and e) (each): 59 5/8 × 14 5/16" (151.4 × 36.4 cm); plate (c): 59 1/2 × 13 11/16" (151.1 × 34.8 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 108" (152.4 × 274.3 cm)
Signature:
panel (c): "Louise / Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
panel (e): "LB" lower right comp., pencil.
Inscription:
panel (b): "under anxiety / I lose my identité." center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "I talk / I talk / I talk / I talk / and / talk." 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 5-panel composition is made up of 2 plates that were used in other compositions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

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

panel (c): plate from "Losing It"

panel (e): plate from "The God of Fertility"
For this panel, the plate is in the same orientation as 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 4 that constitute a single work of art. All of these compositions are to be exhibited together in the indicated sequence.
Curatorial Remarks:
The hand additions and paper type 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 impressions in MoMA's Collection. The overall mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

No. 1 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!
2008

Unique Variants

Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, Start Something!! 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Unique variant
2008

Series
2008

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Start Something!! 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Start Something!!
2008
More About This Work

Louise Bourgeois,

Start Something!!,

New York, Osiris, 2008

Bourgeois's entire text for this series appears on the panels cited below.

No. 1:
under anxiety
I lose my identité.
I talk
I talk
I talk
I talk
and
talk.

No. 2:
I offer
I give
I propose
I perform
I show off
I have a solution
optimism.

No. 3:
Nothing doing
doing nothing
rejecting at every turn
break down!
I leave
I hide
I shut up
I look the other way

No. 4:
I look
I serve
I initiate
I start a book
a picture
a sculpture