LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

The Smell of Eucalyptus

Themes:

Abstraction, Nature

Techniques:

Etching

Description:

panel (a): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions

Support:

panel (a): Fabric
panel (b), (c), (d), and (e): Paper

Dimensions:

sheet (approx.): 60 × 108 1/2" (152.4 × 275.6 cm)

Signature:

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

Inscription:

panel (b): "understanding" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "and intimacy" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

Osiris, New York

Printer:

Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH

Edition:

Unique

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

The works in the Evolving Composition Diagram below involve two tall vertical plates, A and B. The plates were printed individually, and side by side in different layouts. The plates printed singly are organized in rows according to which plate is used. The impressions with both plates are organized into 2 versions according to the layout of the plates.

In the first version, the layout shows the leaves pointing out toward the edges of the sheet. In the second version, the layout shows the leaves pointing in toward the center of the sheet. The third version is a multi-panel work with an impression of the first version alongside impressions of plates A and B.

These varying works were issued in 3 separate editions and as unique variants, all listed below and seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram. (For the unique variants, the artist sometimes changed the orientation of the sheet from that seen in the editions.)

Editions:
Plates A and B: "Sheaves"
First Version: "The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)"
Second Version: "The Smell of Eucalyptus (#2)"

Unique Variants:
Plate A: "Differentiate" illustrated book cover
Plate A: Untitled, plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, "Differentiate"
Plate B: Untitled, plate 7 of 9, from the illustrated book, "Differentiate"
First version: "Ode to Eugénie Grandet"
First version: "The Sense of Something Missing"
First version: "When I Was Young"
Second version: "A Mirror of Me!!!"
Second version: "Do Not Cut Me Down!"
Third version: Untitled, no. 4 of 5, from the series, "The Vocabulary of Seduction"

The plates were also printed in combination with other plates in multi-panel works. They all include extensive hand additions, and sometimes only minor areas of the plates were inked. These works can be seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue:

"The Geometry of Pleasure (#3)"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#4)"
"The Geometry of Pleasure (#5)"
“The Geometry of Desire (#1)”

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
panel (a): plate B

panel (c): "The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)"

panel (e): plate A

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 5 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.

In panel (c), which is of the first version "The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)," there is a gap between plates A and B. The gap is filled with red hand additions to create the illusion of a single plate.

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY