The Insomnia Drawings

(2000). 4to. 2 volumes. INSCRIBED by the artist. Text in French and English. Lightest rubbing and faintest scratches to boards, with mild bumping to bottom of spine of voume 1, and a bit of soiling to the top of the spine of volume 2. Light bumping to corners of slipcase, with a bit of rubbing, and fading to the rear panel. NF in VG slipcase. Having suffered from insomnia since her youth, in autumn of 1994 Louise Bourgeois endured a particularly difficult six-month bout of sleeplessness. To help conquer her nightly anxiety, she turned to art, producing a total of 220 doodles, scribbles, drawings and notes. These frequently consist of circular forms and repetitive patterns of lines, seeming to undulate outward from the source, in an endless rolling lull. ''I'm an insomniac, so for me the state of being asleep is paradise,'' she says. ''It is a paradise I can never reach... My drawings are a kind of rocking or stroking, and an attempt at finding a kind of peace.'' This is a two volume collection of the drawings, inscribed by the artist on the title page.