Untitled, no. 19 of 19, from the portfolio, Fugue

Cat. No. 725

Untitled, no. 19 of 19, from the portfolio, Fugue

State/Variant:
Only state
Date:
2003
Portfolio:
Fugue
Themes
Abstraction, Music
Techniques
Lithography
Support:
Smooth, wove Stonehenge paper
Dimensions:
sheet: 11 13/16 x 16" (30 x 40.7 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right sheet (each), pencil.
"Louise Bourgeois" lower center to right colophon, pencil.
Publisher
Procuniar Workshop
Printer
Procuniar Workshop
Edition:
9; plus 1 A.P.
Impression:
"4/9" left lower sheet verso, pencil, unknown hand.
"4/9" lower left colophon, pencil, artist's hand.
Background:
This portfolio project derives from the 2003 mixed media sketchbook, also titled “Fugue,” that Bourgeois made using a music paper notebook. Of the 19 prints in the portfolio, 18 relate directly to pages in the sketchbook, which has 44 drawings in all. (See Related Works in Other Mediums below.) One of the prints, no. 6, is independent of the sketchbook.

The sheets in the portfolio were printed in lithography to resemble music paper, a drawing surface that can be found in Bourgeois’s work as far back as the early 1940s. She returned to music paper in 1994–95, at the time of her "Insomnia Drawings" series, when she listened to music during the night as she drew. She used it frequently in the years that followed.

Several of the compositions in the “Fugue” sketchbook and print portfolio resemble woven fabric. Bourgeois was working on fabric works at the same time as “Fugue” and, according to the artist’s assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, she was absorbed by the over-and-under movements inherent to weaving. Gorovoy also pointed out the interwoven tree branches in the 1998–2002 print, “The Three Graces.” (See Related Works in Other Mediums below.)
Curatorial Remarks:
Bourgeois worked on this composition through more than one state but rejected those impressions.
Description:
Lithograph
Installation Remarks:
This composition is one of 19 that constitute a single work of art. All of these compositions are to be exhibited together and in the indicated sequence.
Bibliography:
"Louise Bourgeois: Recent Projects." Milwaukee, WI: Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, 2007.

Catalogue accompanying the exhibition "Louise Bourgeois: Recent Projects" held at the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, from July 26–September 30, 2007.
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
707.2006.19
This Work in Other Collections:
Impression no. 5/9: Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Untitled, no. 19 of 19, from the portfolio, Fugue

2003

Source

2003

Untitled, no. 18 of 44, from the sketchbook, Fugue
States
Untitled, no. 19 of 19, from the portfolio, Fugue

Portfolio

2003

Fugue

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled, no. 23 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli
Weaving
The Three Graces

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled, no. 17 of 220, from the series, The Insomnia Drawings
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled, no. 4 of 32, from the sketchbook, Memory Traces 1
Fugue