LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Master lithographer Judith Solodkin founded SOLO Impression in New York in 1975 and met Bourgeois soon after. They were neighbors at the time in the Chelsea neighborhood. With this background, Solodkin was a likely choice for Peter Blum Edition when Blum sought assistance for his early Bourgeois publications. It was she who suggested Harlan & Weaver for intaglio printing, leading to the long working relationship between the artist and Felix Harlan. Solodkin also hoped to engage Bourgeois in lithography, and had two stones delivered to her. However, Bourgeois never liked drawing on stone and Solodkin had to devise other ways of working. They eventually made lithographs together, as Bourgeois took a special liking to the vibrant color effects possible with that technique.

Solodkin welcomes technical challenges and produced Bourgeois's early multiples, including a garter piece for the Anatomy portfolio and a sewn page for Parkett magazine. When creating the monumental print The Song of the Blacks and the Blues, of 1996, she determined that collage elements would engage Bourgeois, and for Henriette, of 1998, she was not daunted when the artist wanted to dangle a leg made of paper, metal, and string from the surface of a lithograph. Solodkin faced her biggest challenge when editioning the 2002 fabric book, Ode à l'oubli, a remarkable achievement for her crew of 10 and also the impetus for a range of new techniques—especially with sewing—for her workshop.