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LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Louise Bourgeois: Complete Books & Prints
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Cat. No. 992.1/II

Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition

State/Variant:
Version 1 of 3, state II of II
Date:
1993-1995
Alternate Title:
Steel Structure; The Solitary Death of the Woolworth Building
Themes:
Architecture
Techniques:
Drypoint
Description:
Drypoint
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 6 13/16 x 4 13/16" (17.3 x 12.3 cm); sheet: 10 1/4 x 8 1/4" (26 x 21 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Inscription:
Verso: "calcho plate" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand.
Publisher:
unpublished
Printer:
Harlan & Weaver, New York for reprinting,
The artist at Atelier 17, New York for platemaking
Edition:
1 known impression of version 1, state II
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.

When Bourgeois began working on the second edition, she believed that all the original plates for this illustrated book were lost. She did, however, find the plate for version 1 of this composition. She asked Felix Harlan of Harlan & Weaver, New York to pull an impression from the plate, and even made a second state. The plate was distressed over time, however, and was found to be unsuitable for use in the second edition.
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from version 1, state I, in drypoint: curvilinear form added to center comp.
Background:
Bourgeois issued the first edition of “He Disappeared into Complete Silence” in 1947. (See cat. no. 1228.) At that time, while actively working in printmaking at the Atelier 17 workshop, she decided to create an illustrated book edition with hopes of making her work more widely known. As it turned out, the book was not a success and Bourgeois never completed the announced edition of 54 examples. It frustrated her that she had never finished the project and, much later, in the early 1980s, she began efforts to reissue the book.

The printing plates for the nine illustrations no long existed, so she set about producing new ones. She worked first, in 1984, with printer Deli Sacilotto, of Iris Editions, New York, to create photogravures using 1947 impressions of Plates 1, 3, and the “Alternative Plate.” Then, in 1990, she created engraved versions of Plates 2 and 6 with the assistance of Christian Guérin of Gravure, New York. First, though, in order to determine whether Guérin’s engraving was suitable, she asked him to engrave two similar compositions. (See “Atlantic Avenue: Transparent Houses” [cat. nos. 1054.1, .2, .3].)

In 1993, Bourgeois finally turned the project over to printer Felix Harlan of Harlan & Weaver, New York, with whom she had begun to work on a regular basis. Harlan would ultimately serve as both printer and coordinator of the second edition. He started out by making reprints of some of the 1983 photogravures created with Sacilotto, and the 1990 engravings created with Guérin. In addition, since by then Bourgeois had located three of the original printing plates from the 1940s (two versions of Plate 3 and one version of Plate 4), Harlan made reprints from those, but they were too distressed for use in a future edition. He also attempted to remake Plates 5, 8, and 9 in drypoint and/or etching. Finally, Bourgeois decided to work with photogravure as the starting-off point for all the compositions in the book, in order to keep the plates as close as possible to those of the 1947 edition. In 1995, new photogravure plates were made by Renaissance Press from photographs of the first edition in the New York Public Library (cat. no. 1228, Example 12). Working with Harlan, Bourgeois ultimately re-worked these photogravure plates with engraving, also adding aquatint, drypoint, scorper and watercolor additions in some instances.

The 1947 first edition of “He Disappeared into Complete Silence” includes “vintage” examples issued in 1947 or thereabouts, as well as “assembled” examples that Bourgeois compiled in the 1980s from prints and texts that remained in her possession. Some of the “assembled” examples, including the one in the New York Public Library, have ten plates rather than the standard nine plates. The tenth plate is a composition called “Alternative Plate” for cataloguing purposes. The second edition includes this “Alternative Plate,” as well as an entirely new eleventh plate titled, “Spider.”

Bourgeois worked intermittently on this project for over a decade, with the second edition appearing in 2005 as a benefit publication for the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. In addition to eleven plates, the book includes text pages from 1947 that had remained with Bourgeois, as well as a new table of contents, foreword, and colophon. The housing was constructed to match that of the 1947 first edition.
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.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
1310.2008

Plate 4, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
1946-2005

First Version

Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1946-1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 1 of 3, state I of II
1946-1947
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1946-1947; reprinted 1993
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 1 of 3, state I of II, variant
1946-1947; reprinted 1993
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1993-1995
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 1 of 3, state II of II
1993-1995

Second Version

Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 2 of 3, state I of VI
1947
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1946-1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 2 of 3, state II of VI
1946-1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 15). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 15)
Version 2 of 3, state III of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 6 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 13). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 6 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 13)
Version 2 of 3, state IV of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 14). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 14)
Version 2 of 3, state V of VI
1947
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1946-1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI, variant
1946-1947
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1946-1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI, variant
1946-1947
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence. 1946-1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI, variant
1946-1947
Published Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 1). 1947
Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 1)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 2). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 2)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 3). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 3)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 4). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 4)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 5). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 5)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 6). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 6)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 7). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 7)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 8). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 8)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 9). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 9)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 10). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 10)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 11). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 11)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 12). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 12)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 16). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 16)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 6 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 17). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 6 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 17)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 18). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 18)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947
Published NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 19). 1947
NOT IN MoMA'S COLLECTION Plate 4 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 19)
Version 2 of 3, state VI of VI
1947

Third Version

Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1995
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state I of II
1995
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1995
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state I of II
1995
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1995-2003
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state II of II
1995-2003
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1995-2003
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state II of II, variant
1995-2003
Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 1995-2003
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state II of II, variant
1995-2003
Published Louise Bourgeois. Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 2005
Plate 4 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Version 3 of 3, state II of II
2005

Illustrated Book
1947

Louise Bourgeois. He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition. 1947
He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first...
1947
More About This Work

Illustrated Book
2005

Louise Bourgeois. He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition. 2005
He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second...
2005
More About This Work

Illustrated Book
1947 (first edition); 2005 (second edition)

Louise Bourgeois. He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first and second editions. 1947 (first edition); 2005 (second edition)
He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first and...
1947 (first edition); 2005 (second edition)
More About This Work