LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Spirals

Techniques:

Lithography, Woodcut

Description:

Lithograph and woodcut, with white and gouache, white, blue, pink, and peach oilstick, white chalk, and stitched collage additions

Support:

Wove paper, sewn onto wove paper

Dimensions:

composition: 21 5/8 x 96" (55 x 243.8 cm); sheet: 21 5/8 x 96" (55 x 243.8 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

Verso: "For Print / Catalogue / sewed / applique/ to MoMA / unique" written sideways in upper left sheet, brown pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Edition:

5 known variant impressions of state II, outside the edition

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

The printer’s documentation sheet lists five trial proofs, as follows:
1. Black Background, white and black shapes
2. Black Background with color notations on shapes
3. Black background with red and blue shapes sewn on
4-5. Blue background with red and blue shapes

Proofs number 1 and 3 possibly correspond with state I and II, variant, respectively, in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. Proofs 2, 4, and 5 were not located and could not be examined.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in lithography: additional spiral form delineated in far right composition.

Curatorial Remarks:

This composition was initially printed in black, white, and gray, on white paper. It was then printed two additional times: in white ink on blue paper, and in white ink on red paper. Woodcut was used to add texture to the solid background areas. Wood grain is visible using the zoom feature. Separate compositional elements of the blue and red impressions were cut out and then sewn on top of the initial black, white, and gray impression. Hand additions in various colors were applied to further delineate shadows and highlights.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

229.1996

This Work in Other Collections:

The British Museum, London
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY