Cat. No. 1110
Hang On
- Date:
- 2004
- Themes
- Abstraction, Architecture, Body Parts, Figures, Motherhood & Family, Nature, Spirals
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Handmade Dieu Donné paper
- Dimensions:
- sheet (each): 33 × 54" (83.8 × 137.2 cm). Plate sizes vary throughout. See individual.
- Signature:
- "Louise Bourgeois" or "LB" each page, pencil.
- Publisher
- Osiris
- Printer
- Wingate Studio
- Edition:
- 9 (see Edition Information)
- Edition Information:
- Of the announced edition of 9 unbound and 12 bound, only the 9 unbound examples were realized.
There are varying hand additions across the edition. In addition to examining impression number 1/9 through digital images, MoMA cataloguers examined impression number 5/9 in person but it was not available for reproduction. The hand additions from 5/9 are described on the records of each plate.
The plates included in this illustrated book were also issued separately. The separate compositions and editions are listed below and can be seen in the Evolving Composition Diagrams of their respective plates:
Plate 1: "Spiral Woman I" and "Spiral Woman II"
Plate 2: "Feather Woman"
Plate 3: "Couple" and "Femme"
Plate 4: "The Climb"
Plate 5: "Mother and Child"
Plate 6: "Acrobat"
Plates 7-8: "Magic Wands"
Plate 9: "Two Figures / Father and Son"
Plate 10: "Together"
Plate 11: "Feather Woman"
Plate 12: "Hang On!"
Plate 13: "Labyrinth"
Plate 14: "Femme Miroir"
Plates 15-16: "Around We Go" and "The Lost Girl"
Plate 17: "Femme Diagonale" and Untitled - Impression:
- "set #1" verso each page, artist's hand.
- Background:
- The text in "Hang On" is from notebooks and loose sheets written in the 1960s, combined with spontaneous phrases written at the time of publication.
- Curatorial Remarks:
- The hand additions, paper type, and impression number could not be fully documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person.
- Description:
- Illustrated book with 17 etchings, all with hand additions
- Pagination:
- 17 unnumbered pages, plus 1 title sheet that does not figure in page numbering sequence and is not illustrated here.
- Housing:
- Unbound. Publisher's portfolio box: tan fabric.
From the illustrated book
Untitled, plates 7 and 8 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plates 7 and 8 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 9 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 9 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 10 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 10 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 11 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 11 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 12 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 12 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Hang On, text, page 12 of 17
2004
<i>Hang On</i>, text, page 12 of 17
2004
Untitled, plate 13 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 13 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 14 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 14 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plates 15 and 16 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plates 15 and 16 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Hang On, text, page 16 of 17
2004
<i>Hang On</i>, text, page 16 of 17
2004
Untitled, plate 17 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 17 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 1 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 1 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 2 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 2 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 3 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 3 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 4 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 4 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 5 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 5 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Untitled, plate 6 of 17, from the illustrated book, Hang On
2004
Untitled, plate 6 of 17, from the illustrated book,<i> Hang On</i>
2004
Louise Bourgeois,
Hang On,
New York, Osiris, 2004Bourgeois's entire text for this volume appears on the pages cited below.
Page 1:
I want to say
I want to tell
I want to see
I want to learn
I want to know
Page 2:
I want to control
I want to hold
I want to feel
I want to remember
Page 3:
I want to go
I want to want
I want to find
I want to finish
I want to forget
Page 4:
I want to be good
I want to be better
I want to do it
I want to show
I want to outdo
I want to top it
I want to accomplish mastery
Page 5:
I want the means to get
I want the tools
I want omnipotence
I want to manipulate
I want to be an acrobat
Page 6:
I want to be healthy
I want to be strong
I want to be clever
I want to please
I want to be good
Page 7:
I want it now
I want it this minute
I want to make it appear
as a fairy with a magic wand
I say there and there it is
Page 8:
I want to go everywhere
I want to turn around the table
I want to turn around people
I want to turn people around
To understand them
To anticipate them
To fool them
Page 9:
I want them to like
me and tell me
that I am ok
I want to be noticed
I want to be given
I want to be loved
Page 10:
I want to be right
I want to prove
I want to survive
I want to be free
I want to please
Page 11:
I want to avoid
death, destruction, guilt
Page 12:
I want to escape
I have to escape
I do not want to look
I have to find a diversion
a substitute
Page 13:
I want to look
around and see
then I want to go
back to my lair
and close my door
and then I want to get out
again and look at
everything
Page 14:
But I know that
I cannot see
I cannot learn
I can never know
I am not supposed to go
It is bad to want
I never find
I will not finish
I cannot forget
Page 15:
I cannot control
I cannot hold
I may not feel
I am unable to remember
Page 16:
The voice of reason and experience
The real world always says no
To be rich is not to want beyond my means
To be satisfied – to be wise
To be satisfied with what I have
Page 17:
Contemplate a finished and concentric world like a rose