LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "The Father and the 3 Sons"

Themes:

Motherhood & Family, Objects

Techniques:

Lithography, Other

Description:

Lithograph and embossing, with blue pastel additions

Support:

Smooth, wove BFK Rives paper

Dimensions:

composition: 18 7/8 x 9 3/16" (48 x 23.3 cm); sheet: 24 x 13 1/16" (61 x 33.1cm)

Signature:

"LB" right lower margin, pencil.

Publisher:

The artist

Printer:

SOLO Impression, New York

Edition:

50; plus 10 A.P., 4 P.P., 3 T.P., 1 B.A.T.

Impression:

"AP 2" left lower sheet, pencil, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

There is 1 known impression of version 2, only state, outside the edition. It is illustrated in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

The amount of blue pastel additions varies across the edition. For comparison, see variations in the other impressions of version 2, only state, in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

State Changes and Additions:

Matrices:
The progression of version 2, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 3 matrices in 2 different techniques.

Embossing matrix: outline of large chair and semicircle forms.

Lithography matrix 1: outline of 3 small chairs and some shading in large chair.

Lithography matrix 2: outline of large chair and shading in small chairs.

State Changes:
Embossing matrix printed, lithography matrix 1 printed in blue, lithography matrix 2 printed in light blue.
Changes from version 1, in lithography: composition re-drawn on 2 matrices, in 2 different colors; fewer shading lines on large chair.

Benefit Work:

For Anthology Film Archives, New York

Background:

The Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema. It hosts a reference library containing the world's largest collection of books, periodicals, stills, and other paper materials related to avant-garde cinema, as well as a remarkably innovative and eclectic film exhibition program. During her lifetime, Bourgeois served on the Board of Advisors with Nam June Paik, RoseLee Goldberg, and others involved in the world of cinema.

Bourgeois was married to American art historian, Robert Goldwater. The couple had three sons: Michel, Jean-Louis, and Alain.

Curatorial Remarks:

Bourgeois depicted version 1 of this composition in a single color, requiring only one lithographic matrix. In version 2, the artist printed the composition in 2 different shades of blue by introducing an additional lithographic matrix. In both versions 1 and 2, Bourgeois used an embossing matrix to emboss the outline of the large chair and the semicircle forms. The embossing was achieved through letterpress.

Other Remarks:

According to the artist's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the imagery of chairs may have been influenced by Bourgeois's father and his chair collection. The embossed semicircle forms seen in "Le Père et les 3 Fils" may be in reference to the areas of raised, tufted fabric on the tapestry upholstered chairs in her father's collection. The chair motif appears in Bourgeois's prints, drawings, and sculptures. The artist also included chairs, among other found objects, in various large-scale installations (see Related Works in the Catalogue below).

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

133.2000

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY