LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

Boy and Girl

Themes:

Faces & Portraits, Figures

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove Somerset paper

Dimensions:

plate (component A): 3 7/8 x 2 7/16" (9.8 x 6.2 cm); plate (component B): 3 9/16 x 2 3/16" (9 x 5.5 cm); sheet: 19 11/16 x 15 1/16" (50 x 38.3cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin of each component, pencil.

Publisher:

Peter Blum Edition, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

35; plus 10 H.C.

Impression:

"III/X" left lower margin, pencil, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

There is 1 known impression of the only state, outside the edition, in MoMA's Collection (Accession Number: 622.2008). It is not illustrated, due to its similiarity to the impression seen here.

State Changes and Additions:

Component A, only state.
Component B, state II of II.

Background:

Bourgeois was often inspired by the subjects of early drawings when creating works at much later dates. This 1994 portfolio is an example of a project based primarily on drawings from the 1940s and referring to her life in New York at that time. The exceptions are as follows: plate 1, based on a drawing from 1986 that references childbirth; plates 4 and 9, based on drawings from the 1940s but depicting memories of her childhood years in France; plate 11, most probably based on a drawing from the 1940s of a European hotel desk.

Bourgeois had three sons: Michel, Jean-Louis, and Alain. Michel and Jean-Louis are mentioned on the source drawings in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

Installation Remarks:

The prints in this portfolio can be shown as a group or individually. There is no required sequence.

Curatorial Remarks:

The progression of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved two components: A and B. Before editioning the impression with both components printed on a single sheet, Bourgeois made separate proofs of each component and made state changes to component B.

Of the 14 plates in "Autobiographical Series," Bourgeois titled plates 6 and 12. The untitled plates have been assigned descriptive titles for cataloguing purposes.

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

74.1997.3

This Work in Other Collections:

Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Québec
Museu da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba, Brazil
Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY