Cat. No. 1274, in 1251
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!
- State/Variant:
- Unique variant
- Date:
- 2008
- Series:
- Start Something!!
- Themes
- Abstraction
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Paper
- Dimensions:
- plate (a and e) (each): 59 5/8 × 14 5/16" (151.4 × 36.4 cm); plate (c): 59 1/2 × 13 11/16" (151.1 × 34.8 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 108" (152.4 × 274.3 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (c): "Louise / Bourgeois" lower right comp., pencil.
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 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
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): "under anxiety / I lose my identité." center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "I talk / I talk / I talk / I talk / and / talk." center sheet, pencil, artist's hand. - State Changes and Additions:
- Matrices:
This 5-panel composition is made up of 2 plates that were used in other compositions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.
panel (a): plate from "The God of Fertility"
For this panel, the plate is in the reverse orientation of the impressions of the only state in MoMA's Collection.
panel (c): plate from "Losing It"
panel (e): plate from "The God of Fertility"
For this panel, the plate is in the same orientation as the impressions of the only state in MoMA's Collection. - 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
Open to compare works
Select a work in the diagram below
Unique variant
2008
A
B
No. 1 of 4, from the series, Start Something!!
2008
Unique Variants
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Unique variant
2008
Not in MoMA's Collection
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series,<i> Start Something!!</i>
2008
Series
2008
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Start Something!!
2008
Not in MoMA's Collection
<i>Start Something!!</i>
2008
Related Works in the Catalogue
The God of Fertility
Only state, variant
2007
<i>The God of Fertility</i>
2007
Published
Losing It
Only state
2007
<i>Losing It</i>
2007
Publication Excerpts
Louise Bourgeois,
Start Something!!,
New York, Osiris, 2008Bourgeois's entire text for this series appears on the panels cited below.
No. 1:
under anxiety
I lose my identité.
I talk
I talk
I talk
I talk
and
talk.
No. 2:
I offer
I give
I propose
I perform
I show off
I have a solution
optimism.
No. 3:
Nothing doing
doing nothing
rejecting at every turn
break down!
I leave
I hide
I shut up
I look the other way
No. 4:
I look
I serve
I initiate
I start a book
a picture
a sculpture