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Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois

"Art is a guarantee of sanity. That is the most important thing I have said."

Louise Bourgeois (b. 1911, Paris, France; d. 2010, New York, USA) was a revolutionary French-American artist whose emotionally charged work explored themes of trauma, anxiety, sexuality, and the body throughout her remarkable seven-decade career. While primarily celebrated for her sculpture and installation work, Bourgeois was also a prolific printmaker who turned increasingly to the medium in her later years, creating some of her most intimate and psychologically revealing work.

Bourgeois began making art in the 1930s but gained widespread recognition only in her seventies, following her retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 1982. Her work defied easy categorization, drawing on elements of Surrealism, Existentialism, and feminist art while remaining deeply personal. Her prints, like her sculptures, often addressed themes of family relationships, motherhood, domesticity, and the subconscious. The artist's late-career renaissance in printmaking resulted in extraordinary bodies of work that continue to grow in critical appreciation and collector interest, revealing the psychological depth and formal innovation that characterized all aspects of her artistic practice.

Maman by Louise Bourgeois, 1999, via Guggenheim Bilbao (left); with Louise Bourgeois inside her articulated air at the MoMA, 1986, via The Guardian

Prominent Collections

Louise Bourgeois's prints and works on paper are held in prestigious institutions worldwide, reflecting her significant contributions to 20th-century art. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York maintains the most comprehensive collection of her printed works, including complete sets of her portfolios "What Is the Shape of This Problem?" and "Autobiographical Series." The artist maintained a special relationship with The Easton Foundation, which preserves her studio and continues to steward her artistic legacy, including rare proofs and experimental print states. The Tate Modernin London houses significant holdings of her fabric prints and lithographs, while the Centre Pompidou in Paris maintains an important collection of early works on paper that illuminate her artistic development. The National Gallery of Artin Washington, D.C. contains notable examples of her experimental techniques and mixed-media prints. The Art Institute of Chicago holds a substantial archive of her drypoints and engravings, particularly from her productive period in the 1990s. Important private collections, including those of Agnes Gund and the Glenstone Museum, contain significant print portfolios that represent key moments in her artistic evolution.

Studio Practice & Printmaking

Louise Bourgeois's engagement with printmaking intensified in the latter decades of her long career, though she had been making prints since the 1940s. Her Brooklyn studio, maintained with assistants who supported her artistic process well into her nineties, became a laboratory for printmaking experimentation. Bourgeois worked with various master printers, including Benjamin Shiff of Osiris Editions and Felix Harlan of Harlan & Weaver, but was known for her hands-on approach and direct involvement in every stage of the printmaking process.

Maman by Louise Bourgeois, 1999, via Guggenheim Bilbao (left); with Louise Bourgeois inside her articulated air at the MoMA, 1986, via The Guardian

Louise Bourgeois Catalogue Raisonné 

The most authoritative resource for Louise Bourgeois's prints is "Louise Bourgeois: The Complete Prints & Books," an ongoing digital catalogue raisonné project initiated by the Museum of Modern Art. This comprehensive online database documents printed compositions, including detailed information on states, editions, and technical processes. The project represents an unprecedented scholarly effort to catalog her complete print oeuvre, with new discoveries still being added as research continues.

Supporting this digital resource, the print archives maintained by The Easton Foundation provide important documentation and authentication services for collectors. The foundation, established by Bourgeois during her lifetime, works closely with her printmaking collaborators to verify editions and authenticate works. Additionally, "Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works," published by Skira, offers valuable insights into her innovative approaches to textile-based prints and mixed media works on fabric, which have become increasingly significant in understanding her late-career innovations.

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Legacy

Louise Bourgeois's contribution to contemporary printmaking has been transformative, challenging traditional boundaries between disciplines and elevating print media to new expressive heights. Her fearless integration of personal narrative, psychological exploration, and technical innovation has influenced generations of artists working in prints. By bringing the emotional intensity and autobiographical elements of her sculptural practice into printmaking, she demonstrated how the medium could serve as a vehicle for profound psychological exploration rather than merely reproductive purposes.

Bourgeois's willingness to experiment with unconventional materials and processes—incorporating fabric, hand-coloring, and mixed media into traditional print techniques—has expanded the vocabulary of contemporary printmaking. Her late-career printmaking renaissance has been particularly significant for female artists, demonstrating the possibilities for creative evolution and critical recognition at any stage of an artistic career. 

Prominent Exhibitions

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