Cat. No. 738

The Geometry of Desire (#1)

State/Variant:: Unique variant
Date:: 2010

Themes: Abstraction, Nature
Techniques: Etching
Support:: Paper (on 3 attached sheets)
Dimensions:: sheet (overall): 59 1/2 × 115 3/4" (151.1 × 294 cm)
Signature:: "Louise Bourgeois LB" lower right comp., pencil.
Publisher: Osiris
Printer: Wingate Studio
Edition:: Unique
Edition Information:: This composition is 1 of 2 works with extensive hand additions titled "The Geometry of Desire (#1) - (#2)." The other work in this group can be seen below in Related Works in the Catalogue.
Impression:: Not numbered
Background:: Benjamin Shiff, the director of the Osiris imprint, collaborated with Bourgeois in a highly experimental phase of printmaking that occupied the last years of her life, from 2005 to 2010. He first established a working relationship with the artist in the 1990s, but the late period is particularly noteworthy for the innovative and complex large-scale projects that evolved at that time. Shiff made use of professional workshops for printing, but he oversaw the creation of the printing plates as Bourgeois worked on them in her home studio. He also provided assistance as she added extensive hand additions and texts, and as she combined individual compositions into multi-panel works and illustrated books.
Curatorial Remarks:: The paper type and the color of the hand additions could not be documented because this work is not in the MoMA Collection and could not be documented in person.

Plate dimensions are not given due to partial inking. For full plate dimensions, see the respective editioned impressions.
Description:: panel (a): Soft ground etching, with gouache, watercolor, and pencil additions
panel (b): Soft ground etching, with gouache, watercolor, and pencil additions
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with gouache, watercolor, and pencil additions
Inscription:: "the geometrie / of desire" (sic) lower left comp., pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:: Matrices:
This 3-panel composition is made up of plates that are used in other compositions, but which are partially inked here. These plates, fully inked, were issued in editions as 2 separate compositions, which are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a): plate from "The Unfolding."
For this panel, the plate was partially inked, and only minor areas of the composition are visible.

panel (b): plate from "The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)."
For this panel, the plate was partially inked, and only minor areas of the composition are visible.

panel (c): plate from "The Unfolding."
For this panel, the plate was partially inked, and only the left portion of the composition is easily visible.