The Vocabulary of Seduction

Cat. No. 1252

The Vocabulary of Seduction

Date:
2007
Themes
Abstraction, Body Parts, Fabric Works, Nature
Techniques
Etching
Support:
See individual.
Dimensions:
Plate and sheet sizes vary. See individual.
Signature:
See individual.
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 hand additions and paper type on individual sheets throughout the series 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 mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:
Series of 5 compositions: 12 soft ground etchings, with watercolor, gouache, ink, and colored pencil additions
Installation Remarks:
This series of 5 compositions constitutes a single work of art. All of these compositions are to be exhibited together in the indicated sequence.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

From the series

Untitled, no. 1 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
Untitled, no. 2 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
Untitled, no. 3 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
Untitled, no. 4 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
Untitled, no. 5 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

The Vocabulary of Seduction,

New York, Osiris, 2007

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

No. 1:
the wake
of
the want

No. 2:
The chosen
or
the chooser
To deserve
or
not to deserve

No. 3:
The attraction
to
the
rejected
the
age
of
innocence

No. 4:
understanding
and intimacy

No. 5:
The
vocabulary
of
seduction.