Have You Saved a Soul Today?

Cat. No. 704

Have You Saved a Soul Today?

State/Variant:
Only state
Date:
2009
Themes
Words
Techniques
Screenprint
Support:
Paper
Dimensions:
composition and sheet: 13 × 17" (33 × 43.2 cm)
Signature:
"LB" lower right comp., pencil.
Publisher
Louise Bourgeois
Printer
Dyenamix
Edition:
30; plus 10 A.P., 8 P.P.
Edition Information:
There are variations in the background of each impression in the edition caused by special inking of the screenprint matrix. The ink was applied with a squeegee to achieve the desired effect and allow for variety across the edition.
Impression:
"5/30" lower left comp., pencil, unknown hand.
Background:
Bourgeois published "Have You Saved a Soul Today?" to benefit the sculpture "The Damned, the Possessed, and the Beloved" seen below in Related Works in Other Mediums. It is permanently installed inside a glass pavilion designed by the architect Peter Zumthor, alongside his elongated memorial building.

Within Zumthor's cuboid pavilion with blackened glass panels, Bourgeois's centrally placed flaming chair surrounded by a ring of seven oval mirrors, symbolizes the death of the Vardø witches during the seventeenth century witch trials. Each distorted mirror reflects the flames differently, symbolizing the various perceptions of reality that one person has of the behavior and values of another. The five flames in the chair also correspond to the five members of Bourgeois's family, both in her childhood and in her adult life. The fire represents both the sense of warmth and the destruction that can exist within family dynamics. A slight gap between the structure's glass panels and the ground makes the pavilion permeable to nature, allowing snow and wind to enter the space.
Curatorial Remarks:
The paper type could not be documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person.
Description:
Screenprint
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
This composition involved 2 matrices.

Matrix 1, in shades of blue: background.

Matrix 2, in red: text.
Benefit Work:
For "The Damned, The Possessed, and The Beloved," Bourgeois's 2007-2010 sculpture commission for the Steilneset Memorial located in Vardø, Norway.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Have You Saved a Soul Today?

2009

States
Have You Saved a Soul Today?
Have You Saved a Soul Today?
Have You Saved a Soul Today?
Have You Saved a Soul Today?
Have You Saved a Soul Today?
Have You Saved a Soul Today?

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled, no. 2 of 23, from the illustrated book, Ode à la Bièvre
Untitled, no. 2 of 23, from the illustrated book, Ode à la Bièvre

Related Works in Other Mediums

The Damned, the Possessed, and the Beloved