Untitled, no. 3 of 5, from the series, When Did This Happen?

Cat. No. 819, unique variant 2, in 918

Untitled, no. 3 of 5, from the series, When Did This Happen?

State/Variant:
Only state, unique variant
Date:
2007
Series:
When Did This Happen?
Alternate Title:
Knots
Themes
Abstraction
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Paper (3 attached sheets)
Dimensions:
plate (a and c) (each): 60 3/16 × 15 3/4" (152.8 × 40 cm); sheet (overall): 59 3/4 × 62 1/2" (151.8 × 158.8 cm) (plate dimensions reflect full plate size; these are both partial prints)
Signature:
panel (c): "LB" lower right comp., pencil.
Publisher
Osiris
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
Unique
Edition Information:
This is one of 5 unique variants that incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with another plate in a multi-panel work. When the plate is used alone, the work is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with another plate, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
Untitled, no. 7 of 11, from the series, "Extreme Tension"
Untitled, no. 3 of 5, from the series, "When Did This Happen?"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
"Not in the Least"
Untitled, no. 1 of 2, from the series, "What Hurts"
Untitled, no. 3 of 4, from the series, "Have a Little Courage"

About the "Knots" edition:
Within the edition, selective wiping and sheet size vary from impression to impression. Impressions 1/19 - 12/19 are printed with selective wiping, and impressions 13/19 - 19/19 are printed without selective wiping.

There is 1 known impression of the only state, outside the edition. It is inscribed "first proof" in the lower left composition by the artist, and signed "LB" in the lower right composition, both in pencil. There are 2 known cancellation proofs on paper, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.
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 mediums of the hand additions were not specified by the Louise Bourgeois Studio. The paper type could not be documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from impression number 14/19 in MoMA's Collection. The overall sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:
panel (a): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
panel (a): For this panel, the plate is in the same orientation as the edition.

panel (c): For this panel, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the edition.
Installation Remarks:
This panel is one of 5 which constitute a single work of art. All of these panels are to be exhibited together and in the indicated sequence.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Knots

2006-2007

States
Knots
Knots
Unique Variants
Untitled, no. 7 of 11, from the series, Extreme Tension
Untitled, no. 3 of 5, from the series, When Did This Happen?

Series

2007

Extreme Tension

Series

2007

When Did This Happen?

Related Works in the Catalogue

A Stretch of Time
Crochet I-V
The Stretch
Untitled, no. 3 of 4, from the series, Have a Little Courage
Untitled, no. 1 of 2, from the series, What Hurts
Not in the Least
Lacing
Untitled

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

When Did This Happen?,

New York, Osiris, 2007

Bourgeois's entire text for this series appears on the panels cited below.

No. 1:
Struck by utter
Revulsion
(I do nothing)
paralyzed.
immobilized by the horror

No. 2:
thunder struck
Freeze on the spot
go totally vague

No. 3:
when did this happen?
when I saw them coupling
separate the two snails
my memory is moth eaten
full of holes

No. 4:
something atrocious must have
happened that I don't
understand
and makes me masochistic

No. 5:
when terror pounces
grips me
I create an image