Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, I Want To Talk About Magic

Cat. No. 836, unique variant 2, in 1247

Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, I Want To Talk About Magic

State/Variant:
Unique variant
Date:
2007
Series:
I Want To Talk About Magic
Themes
Abstraction, Animals & Insects, Figures, Nature
Techniques
Etching
Support:
Paper (5 attached sheets)
Dimensions:
plate (a and e) (each): 60 5/16 × 12 3/8" (153.2 × 31.5 cm); plate (c): 60 1/4 × 19 3/4" (153 × 50.1 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 1/2 × 103" (153.7 × 261.6 cm)
Signature:
panel (e): "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 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 an impression in MoMA's Collection. The overall mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

On text panel (d), hand additions are applied like a correction fluid to cover unwanted marks.
Description:
panel (a): Soft ground etching
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil and mixed media
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
Inscription:
panel (b): "I trust you / I am going to tell you / my pain" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): the past / the fear of being" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
This 5-panel composition uses 2 plates that were also used in other compositions. They are listed below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panels (a) and (e): plate from "Alone and Together"
For these panels, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the single panel impression of the only state in MoMA's Collection.

panel (c): plate from "The Little Leeches"
Installation Remarks:
This composition is one of 3 that constitute 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

No. 8 of 11, from the series, Extreme Tension ; No. 2 of 3, from the series, I Want to Talk ...

2007

Unique Variants
Untitled, no. 8 of 11, from the series, Extreme Tension
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, I Want To Talk About Magic

Series

2007

Extreme Tension

Series

2007

I Want To Talk About Magic

Related Works in the Catalogue

Untitled, no. 3 of 11, from the series, Extreme Tension
The Little Leeches
Alone and Together
The Fear Is Inside You!!!
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

I Want to Talk About Magic,

New York, Osiris, 2007

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

No. 1:
Defensive
in the
face of love
The Recreating of the past
does not pay
the fear of being disappointed
wounded or abandonned [sic]
the inability to heal
or
forgive

No. 2:
I trust you
I am going to tell you
my pain
the past
the fear of being

No. 3:
But I want
to talk about
magic
understanding and intimacy
acceptance and happiness
the eyes of innocent children
a ray of hope
I saw my
father
the circles
some candies
I am
happy to
remember
I want
to talk
about
magic
memory
happiness
acceptance