Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Inner Truths or Outer Truths

Cat. No. 1269, in 1248

Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Inner Truths or Outer Truths

State/Variant:
Unique variant
Date:
2007
Series:
Inner Truths or Outer Truths
Themes
Abstraction, Fabric Works, Nature
Techniques
Etching
Support:
panel (a), (b), (d), (e): Paper
panel (c): Fabric mounted on paper
Dimensions:
plate (a): 55 1/16 × 16 11/16" (139.9 × 42.4 cm); plate (c) (each): 55 3/4 × 12 3/8" (141.6 × 31.5 cm); plate (e): 55 1/2 × 9 13/16" (141 × 25 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 94 1/2" (152.4 × 240 cm)
Signature:
panel (a): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin, pencil.
panel (e): "LB" right lower 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 an impression 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 etchings, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
Inscription:
panel (a): "Pendule" lower middle margin, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (b): "the move forward / and / outward / to grow / over / and cover / to protect / to embrace / to cherish" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "is / desire / to move towards / to take hold of / to grasp / to grow / to love" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:
Matrices:
This 5-panel composition is made up of plates that were issued in 3 separate editions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panel (a): plate from "Pendule"

panel (c): plate from "Accumulations"
There are 2 impressions here, one printed on sheer fabric that is overlaid on one printed on paper.

panel (e): plate from "Leaves"
Installation Remarks:
This composition is one of 4 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. 2 of 4, from the series, Inner Truths or Outer Truths

2007

Unique Variants
Untitled, no. 2 of 4, from the series, Inner Truths or Outer Truths

Series

2007

Inner Truths or Outer Truths

Related Works in the Catalogue

Pendule
Accumulations
Leaves
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

Inner Truths or Outer Truths,

New York, Osiris, 2007

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

No. 1:
inner
truths
or
outer truths

No. 2:
the move forward
and
outward
to grow
over
and cover
to protect
to embrace
to cherish
is
desire
to move towards
to take hold of
to grasp
to grow
to love

No. 3:
the talker
who
is
+ secretive
the
satisfaction
of
a
job well done!!!

No. 4:
I give
things eternity
I
have come
of
age