Summer

Cat. No. 422.1

Summer

State/Variant:
Version 1 of 2, only state
Date:
1941-1942
Alternate Title:
Interior; Drawing at a Table
Themes
Animals & Insects, Architecture, Figures, Nature, Objects
Techniques
Lithography
Support:
Smooth, wove Rives paper
Dimensions:
composition: 8 3/16 x 10 13/16" (20.8 x 27.5 cm); sheet: 11 7/16 x 15 7/8" (29 x 40.3 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right margin, pencil.
Publisher
Louise Bourgeois
Printer
The Art Students League of New York
Edition:
3 known impressions of version 1, only state.
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of version 2, only state.

Although there are 3 known impressions of version 1, only state, this impression is numbered 1/12, and others are numbered 5/12 and 6/12.

The additional known impressions of version 1, only state, are not in MoMA's Collection and are not reproduced here.
Impression:
"1/12" right lower margin, pencil, artist's hand.
Background:
This composition depicts the country house in Easton, Connecticut that Bourgeois and her family purchased in 1941; it remains in the family.

American painter and printmaker, Will Barnet (1911-2012) was the master printer at The Art Students League and printed Bourgeois's lithographs.
Curatorial Remarks:
In addition to lithographic crayon, some areas of version 1, only state are printed using liquid tusche (see center left, center, and right composition).

The alternate title, "Drawing at a Table," comes from the brochure checklist of a 1992 exhibition at the Susan Teller Gallery, New York, titled, "Printed by Will Barnet."

The alternate title, "Interior One Child," is cited in Wye and Smith, "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois," 1994, but could not be further substantiated. It has been dropped from the documentation of this print.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 13.1
Description:
Lithograph
Inscription:
"Summer 1941" lower right margin, pencil, artist's hand.

The alternate title "Interior" derives from an inscription on an impression of version 2, only state, not in MoMA's Collection and not included in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.
Artist’s Remarks:
In referring to her early prints of people and interiors, Bourgeois said: “I love portraits. I never used a camera. This was my way of recording my life.” (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Musem of Modern Art, 1994, p. 48)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
235.1992.1
This Work in Other Collections:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Summer

1941-1942

Source

1941

Summer
First Version
Summer
Second Version
Summer
Summer

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