Cat. No. 1013 in 981A
The Upward Journey, plates 7 and 8 of 18 (diptych), from the illustrated book, One's Sleep (1)
- State/Variant:
- Only state
- Date:
- 2003
- Illustrated Book:
- One's Sleep (1)
- Alternate Title:
- Ambition Shadowless
- Themes
- Architecture
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Handmade Dieu Donné paper
- Dimensions:
- plate: 8 15/16 × 3 15/16" (22.7 × 10 cm); page (each): 38 1/2 × 28 5/8" (97.8 × 72.7 cm)
- Signature:
- "Louise Bourgeois" lower center sheet, page 42, pencil.
- Publisher
- Osiris
- Printer
- Wingate Studio
- Printer of Text
- Wild Carrot Letterpress
- Edition:
- 12 (see Edition Information); plus an edition of 2 individual impressions without hand additions, and an edition of 11 individual impressions with hand additions
- Edition Information:
- Documentation was available from the Louise Bourgeois Studio for 2 bound examples of “One’s Sleep”: numbers 1 and 3. No documentation is available for the other bound or unbound examples, as of 2016 cataloguing.
The colophons found in books 1 and 3 differ with regard to Edition and Publisher.
Book 1:
Edition: “Ten bound books / Two unbound folio sets”
Publisher: “Designed and published by Benjamin Shiff”
Book 3:
Edition: “Nine bound books / Three unbound folio sets”
(Publisher’s notes, not included on the colophon, numbers the books 1-9 and I-III)
Publisher: “Published by Osiris”
The pagination in books 1 and 3 differ in that book 1 includes an additional blank spread before pp. 9-10 (with plates 1 and 2). Otherwise, the plates used and the order in which they appear is consistent in each. (See individual books.)
Hand additions to the plates in books 1 and 3 vary considerably.
In the edition of 11 published impressions with hand additions, each is designated by the artist as a "study". (Usually in this catalogue, the term "study" describes photocopies and tracings that were used in the process of developing a composition.) Nine of the 11 studies are illustrated in the Evolving Composition Diagram.
There are 8 known individual impressions, outside the editions, from 1989. - Impression:
- "1/10" lower center p. 42, pencil, artist's hand (artist's numbering refers to bound books as noted on the colophon).
- Background:
- This composition was initially developed in 1989 in conjunction with Benjamin Shiff, director of Osiris, as a preliminary trial for the book project "the puritan" (see below in Related Works in the Catalogue) although it did not ultimately appear in that book. Bourgeois and Shiff returned to the composition in 2003, creating additional impressions to include in this book, and to issue in separate editions.
- Curatorial Remarks:
- The plate dimensions could not be documented because this impression is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The plate dimensions are from the published, hand colored impression in MoMA’s Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
- Description:
- Etching, with hand additions
- Pagination:
- Pages 19 and 20 of 43.
- Artist’s Remarks:
- "The two towers have become very strong and dominate the landscape... they are very powerful... they mean business. Together, the two confront the world... they are omnipotent. There is no intimacy here... they are abstracted... but they don't need intimacy.
The excuse for building this ambition is that you see all kinds of noble virtues in it... the buildings are so clean... so beautiful... so powerful. But if you extend the limits of your ambition, the limits are so far away that you will break in the middle." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 158.)
Only state
2003
The Upward Journey
1989-2003
Only state, variant
1989
<i>Ambition Shadowless</i>
1989
Only state, variant
1989
<i>Ambition Shadowless</i>
1989
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
1989-2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>
1989-2003
Only state
2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>, plates 7 and 8 of 18 (diptych), from the illustrated book, <i>One's Sleep </i>(1)
2003
Only state
2003
<i>The Upward Journey</i>, plates 7 and 8 of 18 (diptych), from the illustrated book, <i>One's Sleep </i>(3)
2003
Illustrated Book
2003
One's Sleep
2003
<i>One's Sleep</i>
2003
Related Works in the Catalogue
the puritan
1990-1997
<i>the puritan</i>
1990-1997
Mother and Child
Version 2 of 2, state III of III
1999
<i>Mother and Child</i>
1999
Side by Side
Only state
1989-2003
<i>Side by Side</i>
1989-2003
Untitled, plate 4 of 8, from the illustrated book, the puritan
State III of III
1990
Untitled, plate 4 of 8, from the illustrated book,<i> the puritan</i>
1990
Related Works in Other Mediums
Figure
1954
Figure
1954
Medium: Wood, paint, stainless steel, and nails
Dimensions: 47 1/4 x 12 x 12" (120 x 30.6 x 30.6 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Do Not Abandon Me
2001
Do Not Abandon Me
2001
Medium: Fabric and stainless steel
Dimensions: overall: 101 x 20 x 16" (256.5 x 50.8 x 40.6 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Untitled
1947
Untitled
1947
Medium: Ink and pencil on paper
Dimensions: sheet: 10 5/8 x 10" (27 x 25.4 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Untitled
1946
Untitled
1946
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: canvas: 44 × 22" (111.8 × 55.9 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Prison & Ladder
1947
Prison & Ladder
1947
Medium: Ink on paper
Dimensions: sheet: 10 5/8 x 10" (27 x 25.4 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
The Cold of Anxiety
2001
The Cold of Anxiety
2001
Medium: Fabric and steel
Dimensions: overall: 82 × 12 × 10" (208.3 × 30.5 × 25.4 cm)
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY
Louise Bourgeois,
One's Sleep,
2003Bourgeois's entire printed text for this volume appears on the pages cited below. The text is consistent throughout the documented books, although the page numbers vary slightly.
Cover:
One's Sleep [artist’s hand]
Text 1:
LOUISE BOURGEOIS
Text 2:
one's sleep
Text 3 (with plate 1):
The blue fear.
Text 4 (with plate 2):
The pink fear.
Text 5:
I need sleep.
Text 6 (with plate 3):
The comfort object, always present,
Text 7 (with plate 4):
the color blue,
the child.
the circling of children.
Text 8 (with plate 5):
I need sleep.
Text 9 (with plate 6):
To listen to the breathing, to my stomach,
to my intestines. I want to listen to them,
to expose them, to think about them,
to welcome them, to wait for them,
to take care of them, like a good rested mother.
Text 10 (with plate 7 and 8):
Sleep to reach peace, the restoration of silence and of peace.
The defenses are worthless, they do not exist. Kindliness,
healthy breathing, forgetting and forgiving, to let go.
Text 11:
Leniency and charity are necessary for the arrival of sleep.
I want to give, to exude, to give to give, to exude.
Text 12 (with plate 9):
My sleep is disturbed. The house of fear. Apprehension.
I fear the future, but I am also afraid of the past.
Yes even the past, but also the present.
I am afraid of others, but mostly of myself.
Text 13 (with plate 10):
The fear to waste one's time,
the fear to waste one's luck,
the fear of the past;
nostalgia.
The fear of the present,
the fear to love,
the fear of the future;
apprehension.
Text 14 (with plate 11):
The ransom, the cost, the effect of fear on others.
The fear that does not know itself.
Unaware and aware.
Text 15 (with plate 12 and 13):
The underground life of fear, what it becomes.
Text 16 (with plate 14):
The fear and the sugar, the adrenaline.
To have the energy and persistence to replace fear by trust.
Text 17 (with plate 15):
I'm going to wait until my breathing goes down and gets regularized, to yawn,
Text 18 (with plate 16):
to do one's nails, to comb the hair, to mend, to draw, to write one's journal.
Text 19 (with plate 17):
One's sleep.
Text 20:
To lose one's way,
to lose one's friend,
to lose one's breath.
Text 21:
To love.
Text 22 (with plate 18):
Leave the house of fear, the window is open.