Untitled, no. 12 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli

Cat. No. 73a

Untitled, no. 12 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli

Date:
2002
Illustrated Book:
Ode à l'Oubli
Themes
Abstraction, Fabric Works
Techniques
Other Techniques
Dimensions:
page (approx.): 10 3/4 × 12 1/16" (27.3 × 30.7 cm)
Signature:
"Louise Bourgeois" printed lower middle, inside back book cover, red lithograph.
Edition:
Unique
Edition Information:
There is an editioned version of this unique fabric illustrated book. It was published in 2004 in an edition of 25 plus 7 A.P., 6 P.P.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
"Ode à l'Oubli" was Bourgeois's first book of fabric collages, and it is unique. The pages were made of linen hand towels from the artist’s wedding trousseau. These towels are embroidered with the monogram “LBG” for “Louise Bourgeois Goldwater.” (Bourgeois married the American art historian Robert Goldwater in 1938.) To assemble the book, Bourgeois worked with Mercedes Katz, a seamstress she had employed starting in 1999. The fabric collages on each page are made from fragments of her old clothing and household items. SOLO Impression printed the lithographed cover and the two text pages within the volume. In 2004, Bourgeois issued an editioned version of "Ode à l'Oubli," published by Peter Blum Edition.
Description:
Fabric collage, with red ink additions
State Changes and Additions:
Additions in red ink: two squares filled in.
Pagination:
68 unnumbered pages.
Bibliography:
Wye, Deborah. "Louise Bourgeois (American, born France 1911)." In Cornelia Butler and Alexandra Schwartz, eds., "Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2010, 274-277.

This article describes Bourgeois's relationship to fabric as a material for artworks, and the making of "Ode à l'Oubli."
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
540.2005.13
This Work in Other Collections:
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Untitled, no. 12 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli

2002-2004

Formats
Untitled, no. 12 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli
Untitled, no. 12 of 34, from the illustrated book, Ode à l'Oubli

Illustrated Book

2002

Ode à l'Oubli

Illustrated Book

2004

Ode à l'Oubli