Cat. No. 1431

Love Is As Big As The Sky

State/Variant:: Unique variant
Date:: 2008

Themes: Abstraction
Techniques: Etching
Support:: Paper
Dimensions:: plate (a and g each) (in 2 vertical parts) (overall): 58 7/8 × 35 9/16" (149.5 × 90.3 cm); plate (c) (in 2 vertical parts) (overall): 60 3/16 × 33 1/2" (152.9 × 85.1 cm); plate (e) (in 2 vertical parts) (overall): 59 1/4 × 35 1/2" (150.5 × 90.2 cm); sheet: 61 × 244" (154.9 × 619.8 cm)
Signature:: panel (g): "LB" lower right comp., 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 color of the hand additions and 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 impressions in MoMA's Collection. The overall sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:: panel (a): Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, ink, colored pencil, and pencil additions
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, ink, colored pencil, and pencil additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, ink, colored pencil, and pencil additions
panel (f): Pencil
panel (g): Soft ground etching, with watercolor, gouache, ink, colored pencil, and pencil additions
Inscription:: panel (b): "inspiration / is / the / difficulty / of being / a / self" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "love is as big as the sky" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (f): "the courage / to wait / for tomorrow / and / face it" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:: Matrices:
This 7-panel composition is made up of 3 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 "The Unfolding"

panel (c): plate from "Tourbillon"

panel (e): plate from "Swelling"

panel (g): plate from "The Unfolding"
For this panel, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the impression in MoMA's Collection.