It is usually painters who are attracted to lithography, since marking the flat surface of a lithographic stone or plate most closely approximates painting. Bourgeois actually had no natural inclination for this technique, and when master lithographer Judith Solodkin of SOLO Impression brought two printing stones to Bourgeois’s house in the late 1980s, she did not respond with much enthusiasm. Bourgeois was already familiar with lithography, having learned it at the Art Students League in the early 1940s under the tutelage of artist Will Barnet. She made several examples at that time, during a period when she was a painter and had not yet turned definitively to sculpture.

Bourgeois’s friendship with Solodkin was probably the reason she pursued lithography later in her career, and she eventually made a considerable group of significant prints in the medium. She responded especially to the vibrant color effects possible with this technique, and particularly its ability to produce bright blues and reds. She also liked the fact that large editions could be made easily, and often chose lithography for benefit prints.