LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Summer II; Interior #4; Easton Serving

Themes:

Architecture, Figures, Objects

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove Rives paper

Dimensions:

plate: 7 1/8 x 5 1/16" (18.1 x 12.8 cm); sheet: 7 1/16 x 5 1/2" (18 x 13.9 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

"Easton 1940" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.

The alternate titles are derived from this impression's inscriptions and inscriptions on other known impressions of this composition, all in the artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

The artist

Edition:

3 known impressions of state II

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

The third known impression of state II is not in MoMA's Collection and is not reproduced here.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: dress neckline altered; topknot added to hair; breast added to figure; figure's far arm further articulated; shading lines added to curtain in center composition; hatch marks added to tablecloth in lower center to lower right composition.

Artist’s Remarks:

"This is the house in Easton, with its dining room window opening out," Bourgeois said, referring to her family's country house in Connecticut. "This was to show how nice the house was, and to show how perfect a hostess I could be. I am very pleased.... This scene is very loving." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 60.)

Curatorial Remarks:

Although some impressions of this composition are dated 1940, Bourgeois and her family purchased the house in Easton in 1941, so a circa 1941 date is given here.

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 19

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

233.1992.2

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY