Untitled, no. 4 of 4, from the series, What Why When Where Who and How!!

Cat. No. 811, unique variant 2, in 1255

Untitled, no. 4 of 4, from the series, What Why When Where Who and How!!

State/Variant:
Only state, unique variant
Date:
2008
Series:
What Why When Where Who and How!!
Alternate Title:
The Chain of Events
Themes
Abstraction, Fabric Works
Techniques
Etching
Support:
panels (a) and (c): Paper
panel (b): Fabric
Dimensions:
plate: 59 3/16 × 19 5/16" (150.3 × 49.1 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 100" (152.4 × 254 cm)
Signature:
panel (c): "LB" lower right sheet, pencil.
Publisher
Osiris
Printer
Wingate Studio
Edition:
Unique
Edition Information:
This is one of 6 unique variants outside the edition that incorporate this plate, printed alone or in combination with other plates in multi-panel works. When the plate is printed alone, it is included in the Evolving Composition Diagram. When it is printed with other plates, it is included in Related Works in the Catalogue.

See Evolving Composition Diagram:
"The Spider Waits"
Untitled, no. 4 of 4, from the series, "What Why When Where Who and How!!"

See Related Works in the Catalogue:
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, "Inner Truths or Outer Truths"
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, "This Need"
"Time"
"Euphoria"

Within the edition, selective wiping and sheet size vary slightly from impression to impression.

There is 1 known impression of the only state, outside the edition. It is inscribed "first proof" in the lower left composition by the artist, and signed "Louise Bourgeois" in the lower right composition, both in pencil.

There are 2 known cancellation proofs on paper, each with a large "X" drawn across the composition from each corner of the plate.
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): Pencil
panel (b): Soft ground etching, with hand additions
panel (c): Pencil
Inscription:
panel (a): "my / need / to repair / is / a plea / for a second chance" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (c): "I have come of age" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
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

The Chain of Events

2007-2008

States
The Chain of Events
Unique Variants
The Spider Waits
Untitled, no. 4 of 4, from the series, What Why When Where Who and How!!

Series

2008

What Why When Where Who and How!!

Related Works in the Catalogue

Euphoria
Incognito
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, Inner Truths or Outer Truths
Time
Untitled, no. 2 of 3, from the series, This Need
La Danse
The Prey of an Anxiety

Related Works in Other Mediums

Untitled
Untitled
Untitled
Publication Excerpts

Louise Bourgeois,

What Why When Where Who and How!!,

New York, Osiris, 2008

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

No. 1:
what
why
when
where
who
and how!
A
story
by
Louise Bourgeois

No. 2:
What is it you want?
Do you know what it is?
Is it possible?
?
why not?

No. 3:
love
love
what I love
love
what I love most
what I love
I love love
Are you looking for a
substitute?
?
?
?
of love
of rejection
of anger
of depression
of optimism
of abundance
of silence

No. 4:
my
need
to repair
is
a plea
for a second chance
I have come of age