Untitled

Cat. No. 580/I, variant 1

Untitled

State/Variant:
State I of IV, variant
Date:
1989-1990
Alternate Title:
Safety Pins; The Burning Pin
Themes
Abstraction, Spirals
Techniques
Drypoint
Support:
Smooth, wove Rives BFK paper
Dimensions:
plate: 11 7/8 x 14 7/8" (30.2 x 37.8 cm); sheet: 15 x 18 7/8" (38 x 48 cm)
Signature:
"BL [upside down]" upper left comp., in plate.
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Harlan & Weaver
Edition:
2 known variant impressions of state I
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of state IV.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
In the late 1980s, when publisher Peter Blum began the portfolio project “Anatomy” with Bourgeois, he sought the assistance of printer Judith Solodkin, of SOLO Impression, a longtime friend of the artist. Solodkin suggested Harlan & Weaver as intaglio printers and she served as supervisor for this project and a number of individual prints at that time. Among these prints were several spiral compositions, including this composition, as well as “To Hide,” “Ambition,” and “Tops,” all seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 96
Description:
Drypoint, with pencil additions
Inscription:
"TOP" upper middle margin, pencil, artist's hand.
Artist’s Remarks:
Bourgeois got a ball of twine to demonstrate the concept of these spirals. "This is a way of going on... it is like a thread of thought... or a dance... you go here, you go there... you keep reaching out to others. It is wishful."
As she followed the line, she said, "You can not hurt me... you can not stop me... you can not break my thread of thought. I make it into a pattern... it is a kind of grid... there is order.

"Then there is the safety pin... you can't go wrong with that! I like the idea of the safety pin... it is dangerous, but it also holds up my whole attire. Safety pins can keep things together... they can prevent catastrophe."
(Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 164.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
542.1993
This Work in Other Collections:
The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Providence, RI
Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, Lawrence
Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart
Tate Modern, London
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Untitled

1989-1991

States
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled

Related Works in the Catalogue

To Hide
Tops
Spirales
Ambition
Le Père, la Mère, et les 3 Enfants

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled
Untitled, no. 93 of 220, from the series, The Insomnia Drawings
Untitled, no. 167 of 220, from the series, The Insomnia Drawings
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled