LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

Girl

Themes:

Faces & Portraits, Figures

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 3 7/8 x 2 7/16" (9.8 x 6.2 cm); sheet: 14 3/8 x 12 1/2" (36.5 x 31.8 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

1 known impression of component A, only state

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof before the editioning of the only state with components A and B printed on a single sheet.

Background:

Bourgeois was often inspired by the subjects of early drawings when creating works at much later dates. This 1994 portfolio is an example of a project based primarily on drawings from the 1940s and referring to her life in New York at that time. The exceptions are as follows: plate 1, based on a drawing from 1986 that references childbirth; plates 4 and 9, based on drawings from the 1940s but depicting memories of her childhood years in France; plate 11, most probably based on a drawing from the 1940s of a European hotel desk.

Bourgeois had three sons: Michel, Jean-Louis, and Alain. Michel and Jean-Louis are mentioned on the source drawings in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

Curatorial Remarks:

The progression of this composition, as seen in the Evolving Composition Diagram below, involved two components: A and B. Before editioning the impression with both components printed on a single sheet, Bourgeois made separate proofs of each component and made state changes to component B.

Of the 14 plates in "Autobiographical Series," Bourgeois titled plates 6 and 12. The untitled plates have been assigned descriptive titles for cataloguing purposes.

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

621.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY