Cat. No. 1438, in 1254
Untitled, no. 5 of 9, from the series, To the Voyeur
- State/Variant:
- Unique variant
- Date:
- 2009
- Series:
- To the Voyeur
- Themes
- Body Parts, Music
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Music paper; staves drawn in pencil
- Dimensions:
- sheet (approx.): 11 3/4 × 65" (29.8 × 165.1 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (b): "LB" lower right comp., red pencil.
- Publisher
- Osiris
- Printer
- Wingate Studio
- Edition:
- Unique
- Edition Information:
- "To the Voyeur" incorporates some of the same compositions from the series of folio sets "Nothing to Remember" (2004-2006). Since this project came to light in the final days of producing, “Louise Bourgeois: The Complete Prints & Books,” it could not be fully integrated into the larger "Nothing to Remember" project. "Nothing to Remember" can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.
- 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 mediums and paper type of the individual panels in the series could not be fully documented because this work is not in MoMA's Collection and could not be examined in person. The overall mediums and sheet dimensions for the series were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
- Description:
- Soft ground etchings, with hand additions
- Installation Remarks:
- This composition is one of 9 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
2009
A
B
No. 5 of 9, from the series, To the Voyeur
2005-2009
Panel
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Unique variant
2009
Not in MoMA's Collection
Untitled, no. 5 of 9, from the series,<i> To the Voyeur</i>
2009
Series
2005-2009
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
To the Voyeur
2005-2009
Not in MoMA's Collection
<i>To the Voyeur</i>
2005-2009
Related Works in the Catalogue
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Untitled, no. 30, in Nothing to Remember (set 1), from the series of folio sets (1-6)
Only state, unique variant
2004-2006
Not in MoMA's Collection
Untitled, no. 30, in <i>Nothing to Remember</i> (set 1), from the series of folio sets (1-6)
2004-2006
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
Nothing to Remember
2004-2006
Not in MoMA's Collection
<i>Nothing to Remember</i>
2004-2006
Publication Excerpts
Louise Bourgeois,
To the Voyeur,
New York, Osiris, 2009Bourgeois's entire text for this series appears on the panels cited below.
No. 1:
To the voyeur
No. 2:
I hid behind my hair
I could not look away
No. 3:
Where was I hiding?
the peeping Tom
me
No. 4:
Silence and patience
Sleepless nights
No. 6:
I thought I saw you
perhaps I was / mistaken
No. 7:
I did not want to look, but I did see
No. 8:
I see you but you don't see me
No. 9:
I am lost, but I know that I have
been here before.