LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Sleeping Girl

Themes:

Architecture, Figures, Objects

Techniques:

Relief

Description:

Woodcut, with brown oil-based ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Japanese paper

Dimensions:

composition: 9 15/16 x 14 1/4" (25.2 x 36.2 cm); sheet: 12 x 17 15/16" (30.5 x 45.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

The alternate title "Sleeping Girl" derives from an inscription on another known impression of this composition.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

The artist

Edition:

1 known impression of version 2, state IV

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

Matrices:
The progression of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved 6 blocks and 14 colors.

Block 1: woman, table, vase, wall, and floor.

Block 2: linear pattern in lower right composition and amorphous pattern in upper left composition.

Block 3: background surface with cut-away area encompassing woman and table.

Block 4: geometric pattern in upper left, abstract pattern in top center, and abstract form in bottom center.

Block 5: recut image of block 1.

Block 6: recut image of block 2.

State Changes and Additions:

Block 4 printed in green, over block 5 printed in black, over block 6 printed in brown.
Changes from version 1: block 1 image transferred and reformed on block 5; block 2 image transferred and reformed on block 6.
Change from version 2, state III: block 4 added.

Artist’s Remarks:

“Dream is a self-portrait,” Bourgeois said, “a portrait of a mood, a very dark mood. The woman is crying. She is homesick. She is probably waiting for a letter, a letter that never comes.” (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 41.)

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 7

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

230.1992.13

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY