Welcome to MoMA.org. To take full advantage of all the site’s features, including the option to save works in the collection, please upgrade your browser to Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer 9. See our help page for more information.
8 (numbered I/VIII-VIII/VIII); plus an edition of 6 without hand additions (numbered 1/6-6/6), and an illustrated book edition of 12
Impression:
"VIII/VIII" lower center sheet verso, black colored pencil, artist's hand.
Edition Information:
Each impression in this edition includes hand additions, consistently applied. State II was also published in a separate edition of 6, without hand additions.
A separate edition of this composition was published in an illustrated book titled, "One's Sleep." The illustrated book includes 18 plates with hand additions, in all. (See Evolving Composition Diagram.)
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from state I, in etching: new plates added to the left and right of the bottom plate, extending the width to match the top plate; new long, vertical plate added in between the top plate to the bottom plate.
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 impressions to issue in separate editions, and to include in the book “One’s Sleep".
Artist’s Remarks:
"This is not a column, it is a self-portrait... see the hair?" Pointing to the little house, Bourgeois said, "This is where I came from, but I'm smart... look what I became! It is completely free... it can stand alone." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 155.)
If you are interested in reproducing images from The Museum of Modern Art web site, please visit the Image Permissions page (www.moma.org/permissions). For additional information about using content from MoMA.org, please visit About this Site (www.moma.org/site).