Don't Swallow Me!

Cat. No. 770

Don't Swallow Me!

State/Variant:
Unique variant
Date:
2008
Themes
Abstraction, Body Parts, Fabric Works
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Paper (2 attached sheets) mounted on panel
Dimensions:
plate (a): 59 5/8 × 19 7/8" (151.5 × 50.5 cm); plate (b): 59 3/4 × 14 3/8" (151.8 × 36.5 cm); sheet (overall): 59 1/2 × 71" (151.1 × 180.3 cm) (plate dimensions reflect full plate size; these are partial printings)
Signature:
panel (b): "LB" lower right comp., black pencil.
Publisher
Osiris
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
Unique
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 type of paper and color of the hand additions 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 the impressions of "Incognito" and "Extreme Tension" in MoMA’s Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:
panel (a): Soft ground etching, with fabric collage and pencil additions
panel (b): Soft ground etching, with ink, gouache, and pencil additions
Inscription:
panel (a): "Don't / swallow / me!" upper to center left sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
This 2-panel composition is made up of plates that were issued as separate editions or used in other compositions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a): plate from "Incognito."
For this unique variant, the plate is obscured by a fabric collage and is in a different orientation from the edition.

panel (b): plate from "Extreme Tension."
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Don't Swallow Me!

2008

Unique Variants
Don't Swallow Me!

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled, no. 6 of 11, from the series, Extreme Tension
Incognito
Time
Untitled (no. 28) in 10 AM Is When You Come to Me (set 8), from the series of installation sets (1-10)
Hands
Extreme Tension
Untitled (no. 7) in 10 AM Is When You Come to Me (set 8), from the series of installation sets (1-10)

Related Works in Other Mediums

Give or Take
Décontractée