Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition

Cat. No. 989.4/II, variant 4

Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition

State/Variant:
Version 4 of 4, state II of III, variant
Date:
1995-2003
Alternate Title:
La Maison Solitaire (The Solitary House); One Figure
Themes
Architecture
Techniques
Aquatint, Engraving, Photogravure
Support:
Smooth, wove paper
Dimensions:
plate: 8 × 2 11/16" (20.3 × 6.8 cm); sheet: 9 15/16 × 6 3/4" (25.3 × 17.2 cm)
Signature:
Not signed
Publisher
unpublished
Printer
Renaissance Press for photogravure (see Curatorial Remarks), Harlan & Weaver for engraving
Edition:
12 known impressions of version 4, state II
Edition Information:
Proof before the editioning of version 4, state III in the second edition.

There are 7 additional known impressions of this state in MoMA's Collection (Accession Numbers: 1284.2008, 1285.2008, 1286.2008, 1287.2008, 1277.2012, 1281.2012, and 1283.2012). They are not illustrated due to their similarity to other impressions of this state in the Evolving Composition Diagram below.
Impression:
Not numbered
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.

Bourgeois could not locate the printing plates for the nine illustrations, 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.
Curatorial Remarks:
According to printer Paul Taylor, of Renaissance Press, the print workshop re-located from Hinsdale to Ashuelot, New Hampshire. On the colophon, the place is given as Hinsdale.

The Renaissance Press made photogravures from photographs of all ten plates in the New York Public Library’s example of “He Disappeared into Complete Silence” (cat. no. 1228, Example 12) to serve as the starting-off point for the second edition (see Background).
Description:
Engraving over photogravure, with selective wiping
State Changes and Additions:
Changes from version 3: composition transferred to new plate in photogravure (see Curatorial Remarks).
Changes from version 4, state I, in engraving: composition reinforced throughout.
Artist’s Remarks:
For Bourgeois, the early Plates 1, 2, and 3 had something of an “architectural idealism,” while the later plates have more “realism.... The mood starts out very fine, but it declines... it goes down and down.”

About Plate 1, Bourgeois said: “This shows how beautiful you are... you are quite perfect... quite a dish!... But even though she looks great, it is a façade. This is only the outside; the inside is something different. One can compensate for low self-esteem by doing something with the outside. But even with this great dignity, at the end the person disintegrates. There is always the feeling that something will give way. It is never too secure.” (Quotes cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 76.)
MoMA Credit Line:
Gift of the artist
MoMA Accession Number:
1282.2012
© The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY

Plate 1, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence

1946-2005

First Version
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 16)
Second Version
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 13)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 15)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 14)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 19)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 10)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 4)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 8)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 17)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 1)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 2)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 3)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 5)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 6)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 7)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 9)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 11)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 12)
Third Version
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition (Example 18)
Plate 1 of 9, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Fourth Version
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition
Plate 1 of 11, from the illustrated book, He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition

Illustrated Book

1947

He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first edition

Illustrated Book

2005

He Disappeared into Complete Silence, second edition

Illustrated Book

1947

He Disappeared into Complete Silence, first and second editions

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