LOUISE BOURGEOIS: COMPLETE BOOKS & PRINTS

Alternate Title:

Structure

Descriptive Title:

English translation: "Drawbridge"

Themes:

Architecture

Techniques:

Engraving

Description:

Engraving, with pencil additions

Support:

Smooth, laid paper

Dimensions:

plate: 6 7/8 x 4 7/8" (17.5 x 12.4 cm); sheet: 8 11/16 x 6 3/8" (22 x 16.2 cm)

Signature:

"Louise Bourgeois" lower middle margin, pencil.

Inscription:

Verso: "He disapeared [sic] / into silence serie / no. 1 [circled]" center sheet, pencil, artist's hand; "NFS" upper middle sheet, pencil, unknown hand.

Publisher:

unpublished

Printer:

The artist at Atelier 17, New York

Edition:

2 known variant impressions of the only state

Impression:

Not numbered

Edition Information:

Not issued as a published edition at any state.

Artist’s Remarks:

"'A new sense is introduced... the sense of sound, with sound waves. There are lights and radio waves. You can communicate; you are not alone.' At the bottom it is 'not peaceful, but deserted'; at the top is 'where everything is happening.' The tops of the structures are equipped with 'ways to watch for danger, both day and night.' The storm that comes up 'can be handled.... I can tell that, because of the pleasure of my strokes.'" (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. "The Prints of Louise Bourgeois." New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 101.)

Curatorial Remarks:

In the second half of the 1940s, Bourgeois spent time at Atelier 17, the print workshop of Stanley William Hayter. The workshop had transferred operations from Paris to New York during the war years. It is not known precisely which prints she made at the workshop since she also worked at home on a small press. The designation of “the artist at Atelier 17” as printer means that the impression was likely made at the workshop. The designation is based on dates, inscriptions, techniques favored at Atelier 17, and/or stylistic similarities to images in the illustrated book “He Disappeared into Complete Silence,” which the artist repeatedly cited as having been made at Atelier 17. It is also possible that Bourgeois worked on certain plates both at home and at the workshop, or pulled impressions at both places.

Given the inscription on the verso of this impression, it appears that Bourgeois considered this composition for "He Disappeared Into Complete Silents," but did not finally include it.

Bibliography:

Bernadac, Marie-Laure and Deborah Wye. "Louise Bourgeois: Pensées-Plumes." Paris: Centre Pompidou, 1995, p. 19-27.

Former Cat. No.:

W & S 41

MoMA Credit Line:

Gift of the artist

MoMA Accession Number:

134.1990.2

© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY