Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, Evening of My Life

Cat. No. 1265, in 1257

Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, Evening of My Life

State/Variant:
Unique variant
Date:
2007
Series:
Evening of My Life

Themes
Abstraction, Nature
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Paper
Dimensions:
plate (a and e) (each): 55 1/2 × 9 13/16" (141 × 25 cm); plate (c): 55 3/16 × 9 13/16" (140.2 × 25 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 79" (152.4 × 200.7 cm)
Signature:
panel (e): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin, 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 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 mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:
panel (a): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
Inscription:
panel (b): "moist / afternoon" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "evening / of / my / life" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
This 5-panel composition is made up of 2 plates that were issued as separate editions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a) and (e): plate from "Leaves"

panel (c): plate from "Up and Up"
Installation Remarks:
This composition is one of 3 that constitute a single work of art. All of the compositions are to be exhibited together in the indicated sequence.
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

No. 3 of 3, from the series, Evening of My Life

2007

Unique Variants
Untitled, no. 3 of 3, from the series, Evening of My Life

Series

2007

 Evening of My Life

Related Works in the Catalogue

Leaves
Up and Up
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

Evening of My Life,

New York, Osiris, 2007

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

No. 1:
echo of the morning
the return of the light

No. 2:
The leaves tremble
but
the roots are deep
and strong

No. 3:
moist
afternoon
evening
of
my
life