LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "Father Out for a Walk with Three Sons"

Themes:

Abstraction, Motherhood & Family, Objects

Techniques:

Engraving

Description:

Engraving, with red ink additions

Support:

Smooth, wove paper

Dimensions:

plate: 8 15/16 x 11 7/8" (22.7 x 30.2 cm); sheet: 13 x 16" (33 x 40.6 cm)

Signature:

"LB" lower right margin, red ink.

Inscription:

Verso: "347 W 20th / Louise / Paolo / Jean Louis / futility? The futility of Sisyphus? (J-L's interpretation / not [underlined] Louise's) / "No," says Louise. Significance (futility's / opposite). /
Louise: The drawing is "nothing to / laugh about (my God)." It is intended / completely seriously. (Jean-Louis's humerous / interpretation is his alone). /
Louise interested in the fact that this / drawing, as "abstract," elicited far more discussion/ than of Louise's other drawing she's working on- / mother and child sharing umbilical cord (as in "I Redo") / far more narrative / anecdotal." center sheet, pencil, unknown hand,

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

2 known impressions of only state

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition.

Background:

An inscription on the verso of this impression indicates that the engraving of the plate was done by Sarah V. According to Felix Harlan of Harlan & Weaver print workshop, Bourgeois initially worked with printer Sarah V. on several projects which were then printed at Harlan & Weaver.

Artist’s Remarks:

Inscription on the verso of the source drawing: "Le Pere en ballade avec les trois fils / May 21, 1998 / May 98."

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

979.2008

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY