Dancing Insect

Cat. No. 408/I

Dancing Insect

State/Variant:
State I of III
Date:
1999
Themes
Animals & Insects, Motherhood & Family
Techniques
Drypoint
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 11 13/16 x 9 15/16" (30 x 25.3 cm); sheet: 14 x 10 7/8" (35.5 x 27.7 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Louise Bourgeois
Edition:
1 known impression of state I
Edition Information:
Not issued as a published edition at any state.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
According to the artist's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, Bourgeois began this composition by tracing an illustration from a book in her collection. The book had once been part of the inventory of Erasmus Books and Prints, the shop she opened for a brief period in the late 1950s.
Curatorial Remarks:
Without being able to examine it in person, it appears that the study is a color photocopy of state III of III, variant. Bourgeois made the photocopy in 2003, several years after she discontinued work on the "Dancing Insect" prints.

The blue ink stain in the upper right area of the composition does not appear to be an intentional addition by the artist.

The inscription in pencil in the center left area of the composition is in an unknown hand and might read "scrape," possibly as a notation for the printer.
Description:
Drypoint, with pencil additions
State Changes and Additions:
Additions in pencil: ears, eyes, nostrils, and lips drawn onto facial area, legs and feet articulated, three ovals drawn in lower left corner of composition, all anticipating state II.
Other Remarks:
According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, the three eggs in the lower left composition refer to Louise's three children and the insect is a self portrait of the artist.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
804.2008
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Dancing Insect

1999-2003

States
Dancing Insect
Dancing Insect
Dancing Insect
Dancing Insect
Studies
Untitled (Study for Dancing Insect)

Related Works in the Catalogue

Hairy Spider
Untitled, plate 8 of 9, from the portfolio, Ode à Ma Mère
Mosquito