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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. 820, unique variant 8, in 1251

Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!

State/Variant:
Only state, unique variant
Date:
2008
Series:
Start Something!! (View All)
Alternate Title:
Les Fleurs (The Flowers)
Themes:
Abstraction, Nature
Techniques:
Etching
Description:
panel (a): Pencil
panel (b): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (c): Pencil
Support:
Paper
Dimensions:
plate (in 2 vertical parts) (overall): 59 5/8 × 35 1/4" (151.4 × 89.6 cm); sheet (approx.): 59 3/4 × 107" (151.8 × 271.8 cm)
Signature:
panel (c): "LB" lower right sheet.
Inscription:
panel (a): "I offer / I give / I propose / I perform / I show off / I have a solution" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (c): "optimism." center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Publisher:
Osiris, New York
Printer:
Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
Edition:
Unique
Impression:
Not numbered
Edition Information:
This is one of 10 unique variants outside the edition to incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with other plates in multi-panel works. All include extensive hand additions and sometimes partial inking of the plate. When the plate is used alone, the work is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with other plates, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
"Les Fleurs (#1)"
"Les Fleurs (#2)"
"Les Fleurs (#3)"
"Les Fleurs (#4)"
"Les Fleurs (#5)"
"Les Fleurs (#6)"
"I Am Still Growing (#1)"
Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, "Start Something!!"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#1)"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#2)"

About the "Les Fleurs" edition:
Within the edition, selective wiping, sheet size, and orientation vary from impression to impression. Impression nos. 1/9, 2/9, 4/9, 6/9, and 7/9 are oriented in the same direction as the impression of the only state, outside the edition, without hand additions. Impression nos. 3/9, 5/9, 8/9, and 9/9 are oriented in the same direction as the impression of the only state, outside the edition, with hand additions. Both are seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

There are 2 known cancellation proofs, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.
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 an impression in MoMA's Collection. The overall mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Les Fleurs
2007-2008

States

Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs. 2007
Les Fleurs
Only state, variant
2007
Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs. 2007
Les Fleurs
Only state, variant
2007
Published Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs. 2007
Les Fleurs
Only state
2007

Unique Variants

Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#1). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#1)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#2). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#2)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#3). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#3)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#4). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#4)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#5). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#5)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Les Fleurs (#6). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Les Fleurs (#6)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. I Am Still Growing!!! (#1). 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION I Am Still Growing!!! (#1)
Only state, unique variant
2008
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Start Something!! 2008
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!
Only state, 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