He Disappeared into Complete Silence

Bourgeois characterized her illustrated book He Disappeared into Complete Silence as "a drama of the self." Comprising nine prints and parables, it is a psychological self-portrait of the artist as creator, immigrant, mother, wife, and daughter. Its fantastical iconography and often humorous text reflect motifs and themes found throughout her art: New York architecture, family and domesticity, the life of an artist, and language and its failures. The book conveys feelings of claustrophobia, isolation, failure, and alienation. In the introduction, poet Marius Bewley refers to it as "tiny tragedies of human frustration." Images conjure multiple associations, including anthropomorphic forms that resemble people and architecture or machines. An adjustable easel, an allusion to her life as an artist, suggests both an instrument for "self-inflicted punishment" and something weak or ineffective.

He Disappeared into Complete Silence was a major undertaking. Bourgeois produced very few books as she assembled them herself, combining her prints with letterpress text printed by Anaïs Nin’s Gemor Press (Bourgeois and Nin never met). This impression is especially rare: it is marked with the letter "A," indicating that it was part of the small group she gifted to friends and associates.

Printmaking played a major role in her oeuvre. She was particularly inspired by engraving, practicing it at Stanley William Hayter’s workshop, Atelier 17. The transformative experience of cutting directly into metal printing plates led her to embrace sculpture.