LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

Feet with Face

Author:

Maria Fluxà

Themes:

Body Parts, Faces & Portraits, Music

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving, Etching

Description:

Etching, engraving, and drypoint, with chine collé

Support:

Smooth, wove BFK Rives paper, with music paper chine collé

Dimensions:

plate: 11 5/8 x 11 5/8" (29.5 x 29.5 cm); page: 12 15/16 x 13" (32.9 x 33 cm)

Signature:

"LB" right lower margin, pencil.
"Louise Bourgeois" lower middle colophon, pencil.

Publisher:

Galerie Lelong, Paris

Printer:

Atelier Tanguy Garric, Paris

Edition:

85; plus 20 A.P., 5 H.C., and a portfolio version with an edition of 40

Impression:

"EA III" lower center colophon, pencil, unknown hand.

Edition Information:

There are 5 known impressions of state II, outside the editions. Two known impressions do not have chine collé; one is illustrated in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. An additional impression with chine collé is in MoMA's Collection (Accession Number: 707.2008). It is not illustrated, due to its similarity to the impressions seen here.

The illustrated books numbered 1/25-25/25 in the edition of 85 are accompanied by a portfolio of 7 prints (the 5 compositions represented in the book and 2 additional compositions). The remaining 60 illustrated books in the edition are numbered 26/85-85/85 and are not accompanied by portfolios. The A.P. illustrated books (A.P. I-X of XX) and the H.C. illustrated books (H.C. 1-5) are accompanied by the portfolio of 7 prints. In all, there are 40 illustrated books accompanied by portfolios.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state I, in drypoint: face further articulated.
Changes from state I, in engraving: hatch marks added throughout; lines reinforced throughout.

Pagination:

Plate: page 3 of folio 11.

Illustrated Book:
96 unnumbered pages in 24 folios (sheets folded once and comprising 4 pages). Folios numbered 2-24 (first folio unnumbered). Plates interspersed.

Printer of Text:

SAIG, L'Haÿ-les-Roses, France

Housing:

Unbound. Publisher's clamshell box: red fabric with yellow embroidery.

Background:

“Metamorfosis” is a collaboration initiated by Maria Fluxà, a Spanish gallery owner and collector. Fluxà first encountered Bourgeois’s work at the 1982 MoMA retrospective and felt a particular emotional connection to the “Femme Maison.” She then began enthusiastically collecting Bourgeois’s work, which she displayed in her gallery, Lluc Fluxà, in Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Taking inspiration from Bourgeois's themes of memory, identity, and trauma, Fluxà also staged a performance at her gallery titled “Götterdämmerung” that dealt with her own upbringing.

In 1993, Fluxà met Bourgeois at the MoMA opening of a Joan Miró exhibition, introducing herself as an admirer and collector. She later visited the artist, which led to discussions about a possible collaboration between the two.

Bourgeois had a sympathetic response to Fluxà’s difficult relationship with her father, a problem she shared. After meeting over the next several years, she agreed to participate in a collaborative work that became the illustrated book entitled, "Metamorfosis." Here, Fluxà creates a fusion of words and imagery that conflates her own identity with that of the artist. Bourgeois allowed images of her work to contribute to this fusion, and also created five prints especially for the volume. The book was published by Galerie Lelong, Paris, in 1999. For a deluxe edition, the volume was accompanied by a portfolio with two additional prints, making a total of seven compositions created by Bourgeois in conjunction with this project.

In 2005, Fluxà and Dolors Caballero organized the exhibition and catalogue, "Louise Bourgeois: Repairs in the sky" at the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, in Mallorca. In 2008, Fluxà and Caballero also organized "La Sage Femme: Louise Bourgeois," an exhibition and catalogue of Fluxà's collection of Bourgeois works, at Sala Espacio AV, in Murcia (Spain).

Installation Remarks:

The prints in this illustrated book and the portfolio version can be shown as a group or individually.

Curatorial Remarks:

Bourgeois worked with the printer Harlan & Weaver, New York, to develop the compositions in "Metamorfosis." The plates were then turned over to the printer Atelier Tanguy Garric, Paris, for editioning and publication by Galerie Lelong, Paris.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

22.2002.A3

This Work in Other Collections:

Tate Modern, London

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY