Cat. No. 1275, in 1252
Untitled, no. 2 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
- State/Variant:
- Unique variant
- Date:
- 2007
- Series:
- The Vocabulary of Seduction
- Themes
- Abstraction, Nature
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Paper
- Dimensions:
- plate (a and e) (each): 60 5/16 × 12 3/8" (153.2 × 31.5 cm); plate (c): 60 1/4 × 15 13/16" (153 × 40.2 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 78 1/2" (152.4 × 199.4 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (c): "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.
- Description:
- panel (a): Soft ground etching
panel (b): Pencil
panel (c): Soft ground etching, with selective wiping
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions - Inscription:
- panel (b): "The chosen / or / the chooser" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "To deserve / or / not to deserve" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand. - State Changes and Additions:
- Matrices:
This 5-panel composition is made up of 2 plates that are used in other compositions. The compositions are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.
panel (a) and (e): plate from "Alone and Together"
panel (c): plate from "La Maladie de l'Amour" - Installation Remarks:
- This composition is one of 5 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
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Unique variant
2007
A
B
No. 2 of 5, from the series, The Vocabulary of Seduction
2007
States
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Unique variant
2007
Not in MoMA's Collection
Untitled, no. 2 of 5, from the series,<i> The Vocabulary of Seduction</i>
2007
Series
2007
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
The Vocabulary of Seduction
2007
Not in MoMA's Collection
<i>The Vocabulary of Seduction</i>
2007
Related Works in the Catalogue
Published
La Maladie de l'Amour
Only state
2008
<i>La Maladie de l'Amour</i>
2008
Alone and Together
Only state
2007
<i>Alone and Together</i>
2007
Publication Excerpts
Louise Bourgeois,
The Vocabulary of Seduction,
New York, Osiris, 2007Bourgeois'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.