Cat. No. 1277, in 1255
Untitled, no. 1 of 4, from the series, What Why When Where Who and How!!
- State/Variant:
- Unique variant
- Date:
- 2008
- Series:
- What Why When Where Who and How!!
- Themes
- Abstraction, Figures
- Techniques
- Etching
- Support:
- Paper
- Dimensions:
- plate (a and e) (each): 55 5/16 × 16 1/4" (140.5 × 41.3 cm); plate (c): 54 15/16 × 14 3/16" (139.6 × 36 cm); sheet (approx.): 60 × 103" (152.4 × 261.6 cm)
- Signature:
- panel (c): "Louise Bourgeois" lower right margin, 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 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 etching, with hand additions
panel (d): Pencil
panel (e): Soft ground etching, with hand additions - Inscription:
- panel (b): "what / why / when / where / who / and how!" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "A / story / by / Louise Bourgeois" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand. - State Changes and Additions:
- Matrices:
This 5-panel composition is made up of 2 plates that were issued as separate editions. They are noted below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.
panels (a) and (e): plate from "Let My Children Come"
panel (c): plate from "The Pacifiers" - 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
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Unique variant
2008
A
B
No. 1 of 4, from the series, What Why When Where Who and How!!
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> What Why When Where Who and How!!</i>
2008
Series
2008
Published
Not in MoMA's Collection
What Why When Where Who and How!!
2008
Not in MoMA's Collection
<i>What Why When Where Who and How!!</i>
2008
Related Works in the Catalogue
Published
The Pacifiers
Only state
2006
<i>The Pacifiers</i>
2006
Published
Let My Children Come
Only state
2006
<i>Let My Children Come</i>
2006
Publication Excerpts
Louise Bourgeois,
What Why When Where Who and How!!,
New York, Osiris, 2008Bourgeois'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