LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Steel Structure; The Solitary Death of the Woolworth Building

Themes:

Architecture

Techniques:

Drypoint, Engraving

Description:

Engraving and drypoint

Support:

Smooth, laid paper

Dimensions:

plate: 6 15/16 x 4 13/16" (17.6 x 12.3 cm); sheet: 9 7/16 x 6 1/8" (24 x 15.5 cm)

Signature:

Not signed

Inscription:

"IV" right lower margin, pencil, artist's hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

The artist at Atelier 17, New York

Edition:

7 known variant impressions of version 2, state VI

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Proof not included in any known example of "He Disappeared into Complete Silence," first edition; and proof before the editioning of version 3, state II, in the second edition. Published examples of the first edition are identified by Example numbers in the Evolving Composition Diagram below. The published example of the second edition is the last entry in the Evolving Composition Diagram.

State Changes and Additions:

Changes from version 1: composition transferred to new plate in engraving and drypoint.
Changes from version 2, state V, in engraving: structure and curvilinear form further developed.

Artist’s Remarks:

This structure is "open," with "a desire to be transparent... to be understood." Bourgeois contrasts it to the structures in the earlier plates, which are completely closed. "You must be transparent. You need to purge yourself... to say everything... that is healthy.... It is a move upward, toward expression." In later versions of the print there appears what Bourgeois characterizes as a "fire, raging inside.... There is danger, but everything is compartmentalized, so there is complete independence between the floors. It is accepted that things are off-balance. You can have a fire inside... an you can be at an angle... you will still be all right. Since you are transparent, people can read you and help you."

In talking generally about the whole suite of prints, Bourgeois said: "There is the presence of both closed and transparent moods. It is the swing of moods from night to morning. The distance between them is very great and there is a danger of cracking." (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 82.)

Curatorial Remarks:

In Wye and Smith, "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois," 1994, p. 83, this impression was catalogued as state III. It has since been determined to be an impression of state VI.

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 32.2

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

406.1993

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY