LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Safety Pins; The Burning Pin

Themes:

Abstraction, Spirals

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 11 7/8 x 14 7/8" (30.2 x 37.8 cm); sheet: 17 3/8 x 19 15/16" (44 x 50.7 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right comp., black ink.

Inscription:

Impressions of state III that are not illustrated include the following inscriptions: "AP" and "1990"

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known impressions of state III

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of state IV.

State Changes and Additions:

Plate orientation rotated 180 degrees.
Changes from state II, by burnishing: initials “BL[upside down]” in upper left, and faint line across upper center removed.

Background:

In the late 1980s, when publisher Peter Blum began the portfolio project “Anatomy” with Bourgeois, he sought the assistance of printer Judith Solodkin, of SOLO Impression, a longtime friend of the artist. Solodkin suggested Harlan & Weaver as intaglio printers and she served as supervisor for this project and a number of individual prints at that time. Among these prints were several spiral compositions, including this composition, as well as “To Hide,” “Ambition,” and “Tops,” all seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue.

Artist’s Remarks:

Bourgeois got a ball of twine to demonstrate the concept of these spirals. "This is a way of going on... it is like a thread of thought... or a dance... you go here, you go there... you keep reaching out to others. It is wishful."
As she followed the line, she said, "You can not hurt me... you can not stop me... you can not break my thread of thought. I make it into a pattern... it is a kind of grid... there is order.

"Then there is the safety pin... you can't go wrong with that! I like the idea of the safety pin... it is dangerous, but it also holds up my whole attire. Safety pins can keep things together... they can prevent catastrophe."
(Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 164.)

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 96

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

544.1993

This Work in Other Collections:

The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Providence, RI
Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY