Cat. No. 554, variant 4
Side by Side
- State/Variant:
- Only state, variant
- Date:
- 1989-2003
- Alternate Title:
-
Ambition with Shadows
- Themes:
- Architecture
- Techniques:
- Etching
- Description:
- Etching, with retroussage
- Support:
- Smooth, wove paper mounted on board
- Dimensions:
- plate (trimmed; approx.): 8 15/16 × 6 11/16" (22.7 × 17 cm); mount: 23 3/8 × 13 1/2" (59.4 × 34.3 cm)
- Signature:
- "Louise Bourgeois" right lower margin, pencil.
- Inscription:
- Verso: "Side by Side" lower right sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
- Publisher:
- unpublished
- Printer:
- Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH
- Edition:
- 4 known variant impressions, outside the editions
- Impression:
- "1/1" lower center sheet verso, pencil, artist's hand.
- Edition Information:
- Proof before the editioning of the only state in the edition of 10 and the illustrated book edition of 18.
- Background:
- This composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating additional impressions with hand additions to edition and to include in the book "One's Sleep".
- Artist’s Remarks:
- "I tried to give validity to that transparent building... I tried to make it more real by putting it in a setting. There is a moon... there are shadows... it has reality... it is not a dream." Then, as if addressing the building on the left, she said, "You found a friend. You think you're ambitious... look at the other building!" (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 157.)
- Curatorial Remarks:
- The sheet for this composition has been trimmed down to the plate mark and mounted on a board.
The slightly heavier, blurred effect of the shadow lines in the lower composition is achieved by retroussage printing, where the inked lines of a plate are wiped to draw up more ink to the edges. - MoMA Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- MoMA Accession Number:
- 530.2005
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Side by Side
1989-2003
States
Only state
1989
1989
Only state, variant
1989
1989
Only state, variant
1989-1993
1989-1993
Only state, variant
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
1989-2003
1989-2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
2003
2003
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
Only state
2003
2003
Illustrated Book
2003
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
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NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION
