Youth

Cat. No. 418/III

Youth

State/Variant:
State III of X
Date:
1941-1944
Alternate Title:
Jeunesse (Youth); Le Liseur (The Reader); Liseur + auditeur (Reader + listener)
Themes
Architecture, Figures, Objects
Techniques
Drypoint, Etching, Other Techniques
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 4 15/16 x 7 7/16" (12.6 x 18.9 cm); sheet: 8 x 11 7/16" (20 x 29.1 cm)
Signature:
"Bourgeois" lower right margin, pencil.
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Louise Bourgeois
Edition:
1 known impression of state III
Edition Information:
Not issued as a published edition at any state.

Although there are 18 known impressions of the various states of "Youth," 3 have the following impression numbers: 5/7, 5/7, and 1/10.
Impression:
"1/10" lower right margin, pencil, artist's hand.
Curatorial Remarks:
Additional known drawings relate to this composition but were not available for reproduction. They can be viewed on microfilm at the Archives of American Art, reel 90, frames 5 and 11.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 18
Description:
Soft ground etching, drypoint, and monotype, with brown ink and pencil additions
Inscription:
"jeunesse." lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.

The alternate titles are derived from the artist's inscriptions on known impressions of this composition. The alternate title, "Le Liseur," derives from an inscription on an impression of state VI that is not in MoMA's Collection and is not included in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from state II, in drypoint: chair of right figure added; right figure further delineated; shading under vase added; horizontal line at upper right edge added; contour lines of tabletop reinforced.
Changes from state II, in monotype: lines scratched through plate tone at upper and lower left.
Additions in pencil: rectangular shape in upper center composition added, anticipating state VI.
Artist’s Remarks:
Though Bourgeois most often depicted daily activities during the 1940s, she occasionally introduced people from her earlier life. Here, Bourgeois said, are her father and her brother. "These are people I like... This is a family that is locked together, but totally isolated. They try to communicate, but they get nowhere." About the female figure she said: "She is desperate here because she listens, but perceives that she's not hearing. There is a difference between listening and hearing. It is the same today: not to hear and not to be heard. I am so preoccupied that I cannot hear, in spite of an enormous effort." About the female figure in the print, she added: "Maybe she is withdrawn because she doesn't have a child; she must be preoccupied with that." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 56.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
237.1992.3
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Youth

1941-1944; reprinted 1990

Source

1941

Untitled

Source

1943

Untitled
States
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth
Youth

Related Works in the Catalogue

Dream
Pierre
Quarantania
Man Reading

Related Works in Other Mediums

Les Cheveux
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled