Cat. No. 673/II
Pendus Fragile
- State/Variant:
- State II of II
- Date:
- c. 1948
- Descriptive Title:
-
English translation: "Delicate Hanging"
- Themes:
- Abstraction, Nature, Objects
- Techniques:
- Engraving, Etching
- Description:
- Soft ground etching and engraving, with pencil and black ink additions
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 6 15/16 x 3" (17.6 x 7.7 cm); sheet: 9 15/16 x 6 5/8" (25 x 16.9 cm)
- Signature:
- "L. Bourgeois" lower left margin, pencil.
- Inscription:
- "ètat 2" lower right margin, pencil, artist's hand. Verso: "les pendus / fragiles / 3 x 7" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- The artist at Atelier 17, New York
- Edition:
- 1 known impression of state II
- Impression:
- Not numbered
- Edition Information:
- Not issued as a published edition at any state.
- State Changes and Additions:
- Changes from state I, in engraving: hanging forms further delineated; uppermost ground line reinforced.
- Curatorial Remarks:
- In the second half of the 1940s, Bourgeois spent time at Atelier 17, the print workshop of Stanley William Hayter. The workshop had transferred operations from Paris to New York during the war years. It is not known precisely which prints she made at the workshop since she also worked at home on a small press. The designation of “the artist at Atelier 17” as printer means that the impression was likely made at the workshop. The designation is based on dates, inscriptions, techniques favored at Atelier 17, and/or stylistic similarities to images in the illustrated book “He Disappeared into Complete Silence,” which the artist repeatedly cited as having been made at Atelier 17. It is also possible that Bourgeois worked on certain plates both at home and at the workshop, or pulled impressions at both places.
- Former Cat. No.:
- W & S 55
- MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 151.1990.2
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY