Cat. No. 612-615

Recueil des Secrets de Louyse Bourgeois, deluxe edition

Date:: 2005

Themes: Figures, Motherhood & Family, Words
Techniques: Drypoint, Lithography, Other Techniques
Support:: Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:: overall: 8 1/4 x 1 3/8 x 5 11/16" (21 x 3.5 x 14.5 cm)
Signature:: "LB" lower right margin of bookplate, pencil.
"Louise Bourgeois" lower middle margin of drypoint, pencil.
Publisher: Salon Verlag
Printer: (bookplate) Martin Kätelhön , (drypoint) Harlan & Weaver , (illustrated book cover) Andruckstudio
Printer of Text: AZ Druck und Datentechnik
Edition:: 40; plus 15 A.P., 5 H.C., 2 P.P.
Impression:: "AP 5/15" lower left margin of bookplate and drypoint, pencil, unknown hand.
Background:: This artist's book was issued as part of Salon Verlag's series "Ex Libris." Since 2002, the publisher Gerhard Theewen has invited artists to reprint a book that has had an impact on his or her own work. Each of these reprints, published in a trade edition of 300, is furnished by the artist with a newly designed cover and a signed ex libris, or bookplate. The deluxe edition, as seen here, comes with an additional signed work by the artist and special housing.

For her contribution, Bourgeois reprinted the 1635 volume "Recueil des Secrets de Louyse Bourgeois," written by a 17th century French midwife who happened to share the artist's name. The midwife Bourgeois was the midwife to Maria of Medici, Queen of France, and was among the first women of her time to write about her profession.

Bourgeois's newly designed cover and bookplate are lithographic reproductions of the artist's 2004 project "The Reticent Child," a triptych of drypoints with unique hand additions across the edition. The bookplate is a reproduction of the left panel from impression no. 8/8, the front cover is a reproduction of the center panel from impression no. 7/8, and the back cover is a reproduction of the right panel from impression no. 7/8. Both impressions are seen in Related Works in the Catalogue below.
Curatorial Remarks:: The gold embossing on the leather-lined clamshell box is a reproduction of the image found on the original book's title page.
Descriptive Title:: English translation: "Collection of Secrets of Louyse Bourgeois"
Description:: Illustrated book with 4 compositions: 3 lithographs, with embossing (1 each on front and back cover of illustrated book, and 1 unbound bookplate), 1 unbound drypoint
Housing:: Leather-lined clamshell box, with gold embossing, made by Buchbinderei Schäfer, Cologne.
Artist’s Remarks:: "This book was a gift to me from [the publisher] Peter Blum. It was originally published in Paris in 1635 and is about a midwife who has my name. I am interested in the Mother and Child relationship and how it relates to emotions later in life." (Statement to Salon Verlag about her contribution to the "Ex Libris" series.)
MoMA Credit Line:: Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:: 327.2009.1-4
This Work in Other Collections:: Graphische Sammlung ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Tate Modern, London