LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Themes:

Abstraction, Figures

Techniques:

Drypoint

Description:

Drypoint, with selective wiping, and pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, wove Hahnemühle paper

Dimensions:

plate: 9 15/16 × 11 7/8" (25.2 × 30.1 cm); sheet: 15 1/16 x 17 1/8" (38.2 x 43.5 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois 1999" lower right margin, pencil.

Publisher:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Printer:

Harlan & Weaver, New York

Edition:

25; plus 7 A.P., 6 P.P., 1 B.A.T., 1 H.C., 1 T.P.

Impression:

"AP 6/7" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.

Edition Information:

There are 2 known variant impressions of state IV, outside the edition.

This impression includes pencil additions: 2 eyes were added by the artist, probably when she signed the print, according to printer Felix Harlan. Hand additions were not included in the edition of 25, and may or may not have been included in other published impressions.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from state II, in drypoint: further shading added to five points surrounding figure.
Additions in pencil: eyes added.

Curatorial Remarks:

Publisher Harlan & Weaver groups the editioned state of this composition with ten other drypoints of 1999, under the title, “11 Drypoints.” Each of the 11 compositions can be displayed individually. The full set is as follows:
“The Accident”
“The Angry Cat”
“Don’t Put Your Foot in Your Mouth”
“Fear”
“Feet (Socks)”
“Fences Are Obsolete”
“Madeleine”
“Mosquito”
“Mother and Child”
“Please Hang in There”
“The Smell of the Feet”

Bibliography:

Malbert, Roger, and Juliet Mitchell. "Louise Bourgeois: Autobiographical Prints." London: Hayward, 2016. (Catalogue accompanying the touring exhibition "Louise Bourgeois Prints: Autobiographical Series and 11 Drypoints".)

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

420.1999

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY