Cat. No. 97.2

Hours of the Day, portfolio cover

State/Variant:: Version 2 of 2
Date:: 2006
Portfolio:: Hours of the Day

Themes: Fabric Works, Words
Techniques: Digital
Support:: Fabric
Dimensions:: composition and sheet: 17 1/2 x 26 15/16" (44.5 x 68.5 cm)
Signature:: "LB" lower right comp., stitched in red thread. "Louise Bourgeois" center of colophon, black ink. "Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin of no. 25, black ink.
Publisher: Carolina Nitsch Editions , Lison Editions
Printer: Dyenamix
Edition:: 7; plus 2 A.P., and an illustrated book version with an edition of 15 with 3 A.P.
Impression:: "3/7" center of colophon, black ink, unknown hand.
Background:: Lison Editions is a name Bourgeois adopted when she published works herself, late in her life. "Lison" is a nickname she had as a child. The full list of her nicknames is: Lise, Lison, Lisette, Louison, Louisette.

Bourgeois's assistant, Jerry Gorovoy, provided the following information: The cover pattern for "Hours of the Day" derives from a garment Bourgeois owned--a scarf or a blouse, while the change from light to dark is a digitally printed effect. The background of the compositions is printed to resemble music paper, which Bourgeois favored for drawings and can be found in her work as far back as the early 1940s. She returned to it as a drawing surface in 1994-95, at the time of her "Insomnia Drawings" series, when she listened to music during the night.
Curatorial Remarks:: The illustrated book version of "Hours of the Day" preceded the portfolio version. The portfolio is considerably larger than the illustrated book.

The cover images of the illustrated book and portfolio are similar, however, the image on the cover of the illustrated book continues onto its verso and the facing page (constituting the "endpapers").

The illustrated book and portfolio were created independently using separate digital files.
Description:: Digital print
Installation Remarks:: This composition is one of twenty-five that constitute a single work of art. All of these compositions are to be exhibited together and in the indicated sequence.
Author Information:: The texts come from Bourgeois's daybooks, which she kept for each year up until the very last years of her life. She used them for appointments, and also annotated them with short texts and drawings.
MoMA Credit Line:: Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:: 1351.2009.1
This Work in Other Collections:: Tate Modern, London