Ambition Shadowless

Cat. No. 1013, variant 2

Ambition Shadowless

State/Variant:
Only state, variant
Date:
1989
Alternate Title:
The Upward Journey
Themes
Architecture
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Smooth, wove paper, with chine collé
Dimensions:
plate: 8 15/16 x 4" (22.7 x 10.1cm); sheet: 23 1/4 × 15 1/4" (59 × 38.8 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
8 known impressions of the only state, outside the editions
Edition Information:
Three of the 8 known impressions of the only state, outside the editions, include chine collé.

In the edition of 11 published impressions with hand additions, each is designated by the artist as a “study”. (Usually in this catalogue, the term “study” describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.)

A separate edition of this composition was published as part of an illustrated book "One's Sleep". The illustrated book includes 18 plates with hand additions. (See Evolving Composition Diagram.)
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
This composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating additional impressions to issue in separate editions and include in the book “One’s Sleep".
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 85
Description:
Etching, with chine collé
Artist’s Remarks:
"The two towers have become very strong and dominate the landscape... they are very powerful... they mean business. Together, the two confront the world... they are omnipotent. There is no intimacy here... they are abstracted... but they don't need intimacy.

The excuse for building this ambition is that you see all kinds of noble virtues in it... the buildings are so clean... so beautiful... so powerful. But if you extend the limits of your ambition, the limits are so far away that you will break in the middle." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 158.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
482.1993
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

The Upward Journey

1989-2003

States
Ambition Shadowless
Ambition Shadowless
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
The Upward Journey
Diptych Version
The Upward Journey, plates 7 and 8 of 18 (diptych), from the illustrated book, One's Sleep (1)
The Upward Journey, plates 7 and 8 of 18 (diptych), from the illustrated book, One's Sleep (3)

Illustrated Book

2003

One's Sleep

Related Works in the Catalogue

the puritan
Mother and Child
Side by Side
Untitled, plate 4 of 8, from the illustrated book, the puritan

Related Works in Other Mediums

Figure
Do Not Abandon Me
Untitled
Untitled
Prison & Ladder
The Cold of Anxiety