Louise Bourgeois - Editions & Works on Paper New York Tuesday, April 16, 2024 | Phillips

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  • “I want much more than thank you... I want forgiveness... I ask for mercy. Who is at fault? Who is the culprit? Is it you, or is it me? I would rather make it my trouble... then I could take care of it... I could become active instead of passive.”
    —Louise Bourgeois

    Bourgeois showed her installation "Precious Liquids" at Documenta IX in 1992. To help finance Documenta IX, the curators commissioned some 60 artists (59 actually contributed) to make a benefit print or multiple, which would be editioned and sold in portfolios during the exhibition through the corporation that organizes the event, Documenta GmbH. Both well-known and lesser-known artists were invited to participate. Ten portfolios were created and issued as Editions A-J. With one exception, each included works by six artists.

    For her print, Bourgeois used the phrase "merci. mercy.", which also appeared on a white garment, concealed by a long coat, in "Precious Liquids." The print is included in the portfolio designated Edition I, together with works by Marlene Dumas, Peter Kogler, James Lutes, Thanassis Totsikas, and an artist who goes by the name "readymades belong to everyone."

    Bourgeois created this plate by hammering a nail through thin roofing copper.
     

    - Louise Bourgeois: The Complete Prints & Books
     

    • Literature

      Museum of Modern Art Cat. No. 730/III

    • Artist Biography

      Louise Bourgeois

      French-American • 1911 - 2010

      Known for her idiosyncratic style, Louise Bourgeois was a pioneering and iconic figure of twentieth and early twenty-first century art. Untied to an art historical movement, Bourgeois was a singular voice, both commanding and quiet.

      Bourgeois was a prolific printmaker, draftsman, sculptor and painter. She employed diverse materials including metal, fabric, wood, plaster, paper and paint in a range of scale — both monumental and intimate. She used recurring themes and subjects (animals, insects, architecture, the figure, text and abstraction) as form and metaphor to explore the fragility of relationships and the human body. Her artworks are meditations of emotional states: loneliness, jealousy, pride, anger, fear, love and longing.

      View More Works

117

merci. mercy., from Documenta IX (MoMA 730/III)

1992
Etching, on Somerset paper, with full margins.
I. 17 7/8 x 27 3/8 in. (45.4 x 69.5 cm)
S. 20 7/8 x 30 in. (53 x 76.2 cm)

Signed, dated and numbered 19/45 in pencil (there were also 5 artist's proofs), published by Documenta, Kassel, Germany, framed.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for $6,350

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Editions & Works on Paper

New York Auction 16 - 17 April