Side by Side

Cat. No. 554

Side by Side

State/Variant:
Only state
Date:
1989-2003
Alternate Title:
Ambition with Shadows
Themes
Architecture
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Smooth, wove paper, mounted on board
Dimensions:
plate (trimmed; approx.): 8 15/16 × 6 11/16" (22.7 × 17 cm); mount: 23 3/8 × 13 1/2" (59.4 × 34.3 cm)
Signature:
"Louise Bourgeois" right lower margin, pencil.
Publisher
Osiris
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
10; plus an illustrated book edition of 12
Edition Information:
In the edition of 10 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 the illustrated book "One's Sleep". The illustrated book includes 18 plates with hand additions. (See Evolving Composition Diagram.)

There are 4 known variant impressions outside the editions: two from 1989; one from 1989-1993 with hand additions; and one from 2003 numbered “1/1” that does not include hand additions.
Impression:
"1/10" lower center sheet verso, pencil, artist's hand.
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 with hand additions to edition and to include in the book "One's Sleep".
Curatorial Remarks:
The sheet for this composition has been trimmed down to the plate mark and mounted on a board.

The slightly heavier, blurred effect of the shadow lines in the lower composition is achieved by retroussage printing, where the inked lines of a plate are wiped to draw up more ink to the edges.
Description:
Etching, with retroussage, and red watercolor, and blue and white gouache additions
Inscription:
Verso: "Side by Side / hand painted study" lower right sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Artist’s Remarks:
"I tried to give validity to that transparent building... I tried to make it more real by putting it in a setting. There is a moon... there are shadows... it has reality... it is not a dream." Then, as if addressing the building on the left, she said, "You found a friend. You think you're ambitious... look at the other building!" (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 157.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
531.2005
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Side by Side

1989-2003

States
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side
Side by Side, plate 6 of 18, from the illustrated book, One's Sleep (3)
Side by Side, plate 6 of 18, from the illustrated book, One's Sleep (1)

Illustrated Book

2003

One's Sleep

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled, plate 2 of 8, from the illustrated book, the puritan
Ambition Shadowless
The Sky's the Limit
The Sky's the Limit
the puritan
Ambition
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 1)

Related Works in Other Mediums

Figure
Femme Maison
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Glass House / No Secrets
Maison