Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the portfolio, Homely Girl, A Life

Cat. No. 926/I

Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the portfolio, Homely Girl, A Life

State/Variant:
State I of II
Date:
1991-1992
Themes
Nature
Techniques
Drypoint
Support:
Paper
Dimensions:
plate: 6 5/8 × 4 15/16" (16.8 × 12.5 cm); sheet: 11 9/16 × 8 15/16" (29.4 × 22.7 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Harlan & Weaver
Edition:
1 known impression of state I
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of state II.
Impression:
Not numbered
Background:
As explained in his published postscript to "Homely Girl, a Life," Peter Blum expressed to Bourgeois his wish to do a book at the time of their collaboration on the 1990 "Anatomy" portfolio. For a long time, he had also been interested in publishing a book by American playwright Arthur Miller. While looking with Bourgeois at the book "Portraits," a collection of photographs by Miller's wife Inge Morath, which included a portrait of Bourgeois, Blum had the idea of bringing author and artist together. The publisher proposed a collaborative project, which appealed to both.

Miller visited Bourgeois's sculpture-filled Brooklyn studio and saw there, among many other works, several pieces in her series Cells, which concerns the senses of sight, hearing, and smell. Miller selected for the project an unpublished text whose subject is a romance between a girl and a blind man.
Former Cat. No.:
W & S 126
Description:
Drypoint
Artist’s Remarks:
"TOI and MOI ... a love affair. This beautiful thing is the consequence of the encounter of two people. One says to the other: 'Look what we can do together.'"

Looking at the trade edition, which reproduces drawings, and then the special edition with prints, Bourgeois said: "With the drawing, my pen never left the page ... it is a single line ... it is impetuous and direct. The print is totally different ... every petal is individually considered there. And there is also the extra dimension of the symbolic act of engraving." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 216.)
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Peter Blum Edition Archive, 1980-1994, gift of Peter Blum/Blumarts, Inc., New York, 96.131 © 2019 The Easton Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, NY

Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the illustrated book and portfolio, Homely Girl, A Life

1991-1992

Source

1991

Blue ball point pen and ink on envelope drawing for print #1 for Homely Girl, A Life
States
Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the portfolio, Homely Girl, A Life
Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the illustrated book, Homely Girl, A Life, volume I
Untitled, plate 1 of 10, from the portfolio, Homely Girl, A Life

Portfolio

1992

Homely Girl, A Life

Illustrated Book

1992

Homely Girl, A Life, volumes I and II

Related Works in the Catalogue

The Hour Is Devoted to Revenge, no. 7 of 9, component A, from the series, What Is the Shape of This Problem?
Anatomy

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled
Pas de Rose sans Épuie
Hide & Seek
Toi et Moi