The Red Shoes

Cat. No. 530

The Red Shoes

State/Variant:
Only state
Date:
2005
Themes
Objects
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Smooth, wove Dieu Donné paper
Dimensions:
plate: 10 7/8 x 15 1/8" (27.6 x 38.4 cm); sheet: 17 11/16 x 22 1/4" (45 x 56.5 cm)
Signature:
"Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin, pencil.
Publisher
Osiris
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
9
Edition Information:
The hand additions on this composition vary across the edition. For comparison, see other impressions in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.

In this edition, Bourgeois and the publisher designated each impression as a "study." However, throughout the catalogue, the term "study" describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.
Impression:
Verso: "study 8/9" lower middle sheet, pencil, unknown hand.
Background:
According to Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, this composition was inspired by Bourgeois's relationship to María Fluxá, a Spanish gallery owner and collector with whom she collaborated on the 1999 illustrated book, "Metamorfosis." The subject matter of that book involves Fluxá's background, including the fact that her father ran an important shoe manufacturing business owned by the family. The book's illustrations include images of shoes and Fluxá also sent Bourgeois a pair of wooden shoe forms. The artist used those wooden forms to inform this composition. It is possible she even traced them, as she sometimes did with various items from around her house.
Description:
Soft ground etching, with red and white gouache, red ink, red pencil, and pencil additions
Inscription:
"The Red Shoes" lower left margin, pencil, artist's hand.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
721.2006
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

The Red Shoes

2005

Source

2005

The Red Shoes
States
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes
The Red Shoes

Related Works in the Catalogue

The Night
Untitled, plate 4 of 5, from the illustrated book, Metamorfosis

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled
The Red Shoe