Hanging Weeds

Cat. No. 645.2

Hanging Weeds

State/Variant:
Version 2 of 2, only state
Date:
c. 1990
Alternate Title:
Hangings
Themes
Abstraction, Nature, Objects
Techniques
Photogravure
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 7 1/16 x 5 1/16" (18 x 12.9 cm); sheet: 14 15/16 x 11" (38 x 28 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Iris Editions
Edition:
2 known impressions of version 2
Edition Information:
Not issued as a published edition at any state.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
In the early 1990s, Bourgeois worked with the French printer Christian Guérin of Gravure, New York. Bourgeois admired his various-sized printing presses and also felt a personal rapport with him as a printer. Guérin helped the artist develop plates for several important projects at that time.
Curatorial Remarks:
An amendment has been made here to the cataloguing found in Wye and Smith, "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois," 1994, p. 126. At that time, cataloguers were unaware of an earlier state of version 1, which surfaced in 2012. With the discovery of state I, each successive state is later (state I is now state II, state II is now state III, etc.).

In Wye and Smith, "The Prints of Louise Bougreois," 1994, version 2 was possibly attributed to the printer Christian Guérin of Gravure Inc. The printer was later confirmed as Deli Sacilotto of Iris Editions.

Iris Editions was the imprint of Deli Sacilotto, a master printer who specialized in the photogravure technique. Bourgeois met Sacilotto through mutual friends and established a warm relationship with him. They worked together on projects in the early 1980s, and then again later, when Sacilotto joined Graphicstudio in Tampa, Florida and encouraged the artist to create the multiple, “Spider Home” (cat. no. 15).

The impression of version 2 that is not illustrated includes the following inscription: "PROOF II"
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 56
Description:
Photogravure
Inscription:
"PROOF I" right lower margin, pencil, unknown hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from version 1: composition transferred to new matrix, in photogravure.
Artist’s Remarks:
For Bourgeois, this imagery recalled the house she lived in as a child in Antony. "The attic was very large because of the slope of the house. Antique chair frames were hung from the ceiling everywhere. My father collected them. He would take them down from the ceiling very delicately and examine them."
Bourgeois talked about supporting sculptures and different ways of achieving that. If a sculpture is standing and there is "a fear of it falling," it could always be hung from the ceiling instead. "It is a form of reassurance." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 126.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
458.1993
This Work in Other Collections:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (state VI)
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library (state III)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Hanging Weeds

1949; 1990

Source

1947

Untitled
First Version
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Hanging Weeds
Second Version
Hanging Weeds

Related Works in the Catalogue

Pivotage Difficile
Ascension Lente
Pendus Fragile
Looking at Her Sidewise
Sheaves

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Untitled
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