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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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Cat. No. 428.1/I, variant 3

The Guilty Girl Is Fragile

State/Variant:
Version 1 of 2, state I of III, variant
Date:
2000
Themes:
Abstraction, Faces & Portraits
Techniques:
Drypoint
Description:
Drypoint, with selective wiping, and red, blue, and grey watercolor, black ink, and white correction fluid additions
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 10 7/8 x 7 7/8" (27.7 x 20 cm); sheet: 14 3/16 x 11" (36 x 28 cm)
Signature:
"LB" right lower margin, pencil.
Publisher:
unpublished
Printer:
Harlan & Weaver, New York
Edition:
4 known variant impressions of version 1 of 2, state I
Impression:
Not numbered
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of version 2.
State Changes and Additions:
Additions in red watercolor: triangle filled in, anticipating state III.
Additions in blue watercolor: tone around the perimeter of the composition, anticipating state III.
Additions in black ink: horizontal line at base of triangle, anticipating state II; facial features reinforced.
Additions in grey watercolor: irises filled in, anticipating state II.
Background:
The edition of version 2, in lithography on paper, was published as a benefit for Exit Art, New York.

Exit Art, 1982-2012, was an alternative exhibition space known for bringing exposure to emerging artists dealing with sociopolitically challenging work. When Exit Art approached Bourgeois for a contribution to one of their annual Benefit Print Portfolios, Bourgeois chose to create an enlarged lithograph version of the "The Guilty Girl" drypoint composition. According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois may have made the second version because lithography could have been more conducive to printing the multiple colors with which Bourgeois experimented in variants of the drypoint version. Bourgeois may have enlarged the image, as well, due to Exit Art's 30 x 22" standard sheet size for the portfolio.

The portfolio is titled "twoandthreezeros" and it includes 8 prints in an edition of 50 with artists Patty Chang, Peter Hildebrand, Sol LeWitt, Kerry James Marshall, Julie Mehretu, Yigal Ozeri, Shahzia Sikander, and Bourgeois, plus a cover printed by Exit Art co-founder, Papo Colo.
Artist’s Remarks:
"The triangular figure rests on a single point and can easily fall down. Her guilt has nothing to do with religion. There is guilt in not living up to one's highest potential. There is guilt from not being able to make yourself understood. There is guilt in not being a good mother. And there is guilt in not being able to make yourself loved." Bourgeois interviewed by Simona Vendrame. "Tema Celeste" 85 (2001): 49.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
964.2008
This Work in Other Collections:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

The Guilty Girl Is Fragile
2000

Source
2000

NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION The Guilty Girl Is Fragile
Ink on graph paper
2000

First Version

Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 1 of 2, state I of III, variant
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 1 of 2, state I of III, variant
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 1 of 2, state I of III, variant
2000
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Version 1 of 2, state I of III, variant
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 1 of 2, state II of III
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 1 of 2, state III of III
2000

Second Version

Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 2 of 2, variant (2 of 5 runs)
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 2 of 2, variant (4 of 5 runs)
2000
Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 2 of 2, variant (4 of 5 runs)
2000
Published Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 2 of 2 (5 of 5 runs)
2000
Published Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
Version 2 of 2 (5 of 5 runs)
2000
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. The Guilty Girl Is Fragile. 2000
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Version 2 of 2 (5 of 5 runs)
2000