Untitled (Lead Plate for Whitney Murders)

Cat. No. 598.2 (matrix)

Untitled (Lead Plate for Whitney Murders)

State/Variant:
Version 2 of 3, matrix
Date:
1978
Themes
Words
Dimensions:
plate: 6 1/2 x 13 1/4" (16.5 x 33.7 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Former Cat. No.:
W&S 72.4
Description:
Lead relief plate, with stamping and hammering
Artist’s Remarks:
"When this was done, it was a real exorcism... I didn't hold a grudge. There had been a sharp disappointment." Bourgeois continued, "I think it was that I was not included in a show... I was refused."
Showing some lead sheets like those she used for the matrices of these prints, she remarked, "I love this material... lead... I cut out the shape. I would call the metal letters branding... I used a mallet to bang them. I used it because I wanted to emphasize it. There is branding, rubbing, and stencil here. This is experimental." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 144.)

"The impetus and the violence came from the fact that I was put in a situation of rivalry with a lot of my colleagues. [...] 'Whitney Murders' meant I resented so much the whole thing, because I was not in. You see? That I was ready to murder everybody, right?" (Quote cited in Bourgeois, Louise and Lawrence Rinder. "Louise Bourgeois Drawings and Observations." Berkeley: University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive University of California, Berkeley; Boston: Bulfinch Press, 1995, pp. 316-317.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
538.1994
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Whitney Murders

1978

First Version
Whitney Murders
Whitney Murders
Whitney Murders
Whitney Murders
Matrix (Second Version)
Untitled (Lead Plate for Whitney Murders)
Second Version
Whitney Murders
Third Version
Whitney Murders

Related Works in the Catalogue

Weaving
Weaving Word
No (2)
Self-Pity

Related Works in Other Mediums

Rejection
He Murders My Eyes
Rejection Makes Me Wild