Cat. No. 1429

Dizzy Spells

State/Variant:: Unique variant
Date:: 2007

Themes: Abstraction, Words
Techniques: Etching
Support:: Paper (4 attached sheets)
Dimensions:: plate (a, b, d) (each): 59 7/16 × 19 3/4" (151 × 50.1 cm); plate (c): 59 1/8 × 19 9/16" (150.1 × 49.7 cm); sheet (overall): 59 1/2 × 79" (151.1 × 200.7 cm)
Signature:: panel (d): "Louise Bourgeois" 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 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 the impressions in MoMA's Collection. The sheet dimensions were provided by the Louise Bourgeois Studio.
Description:: panel (a): Soft ground etching
panel (b): Soft ground etching
panel (c): Soft ground etching
panel (d): Soft ground etching, with pencil additions
Inscription:: panel (a): "the prey of / an anxiety / the tightening / of the noose" upper center comp., pencil, artist's hand.
panel (b): "Dizzy" lower center comp., pencil, artist's hand.
panel (c): "spells" lower center comp., pencil, artist's hand.
panel (d): "the tightening of the noose / the prey of an anxiety" lower center comp., pencil, artist's hand.
State Changes and Additions:: Matrices:
This 4-panel composition uses 2 plates that were issued as separate editions. They are listed below and can be seen in Related Works in the Catalogue.

panels (a), (b), and (d): plate from "The Prey of an Anxiety"

panel (c): plate from "Incognito"