Louise Bourgeois
Encyclopedia
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (lwiz buʁʒwa; 25 December 191131 May 2010), was a renowned French-American
artist
and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern
and contemporary art
, and for her spider structures, titled Maman
, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman. She is recognized today as the founder of confessional art.
In the late 1940s, after moving to New York City
with her American husband, Robert Goldwater
, she turned to sculpture. Though her works are abstract, they are suggestive of the human figure and express themes of betrayal, anxiety, and loneliness. Her work was wholly autobiographical, inspired by her childhood trauma of discovering that her English governess was also her father’s mistress.
Bourgeois was born on 25 December 1911 in Paris
, France
. She was the middle child of three born to parents Josephine Fauriaux and Louis Bourgeois. Her parents owned a gallery that dealt primarily in antique tapestries
. A few years after her birth, her family moved out of Paris and set up a workshop for tapestry restoration below their apartment in Choisy-le-Roi
, for which Bourgeois filled in the designs where they had become worn.
By 1924 her father, a tyrannical philanderer
, was indulging in an extended affair with her English teacher and nanny. According to Bourgeois, her mother, Josephine, “an intelligent, patient and enduring, if not calculating, person,” was aware of her husband's infidelity, but found it easier to turn a blind eye. Bourgeois, an alert little girl, hoarded her memories in her diaries.
As a child, Bourgeois did not meet her father's expectations due to her lack of ability. Eventually, he came to adore her for her talent and spirit, but she continued to hate him for his explosive temper, domination of the household, and for teasing her in front of others.
In 1930, Bourgeois entered the Sorbonne
to study mathematics and geometry, subjects that she valued for their stability.
Her mother died in 1932, while Bourgeois was studying mathematics. Her mother's death inspired her to abandon mathematics and to begin studying art. Her father thought modern artists were wastrels and refused to support her. She continued to study art by joining classes where translators were needed for English-speaking students, in which those translators were not charged tuition. In one such class Fernand Léger
saw her work and told her she was a sculptor, not a painter.
Bourgeois graduated from the Sorbonne in 1935, and continued to study art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
, where she studied from 1937 to 1938 and at various other art schools, such as the École du Louvre
and the École des Beaux-Arts
. During the time in which she was enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, she turned to her father's infidelities for inspiration. She discovered her creative impulse in her childhood traumas and tensions.
Bourgeois had a desire for first-hand experience, and frequently visited studios in Paris, learning techniques from the artists and assisting with exhibitions.
Bourgeois briefly opened a print store beside her father's tapestry workshop. Her father helped her on the grounds that she had entered into a commerce-driven profession.
Bourgeois met her husband Robert Goldwater
, an American art historian noted for his pioneering work in the field then referred to as primitive art
, in 1938 at Bourgeois' print store. Goldwater had visited the store to purchase a selection of prints by Pablo Picasso
, and "in between talks about surrealism and the latest trends, [they] got married." They migrated to New York City
the same year, where Goldwater resumed his career as professor of the arts at New York University Institute of Fine Arts
, while Bourgeois attended the Art Students League of New York
, studying painting under Vaclav Vytlacil, and also producing sculptures and prints.
Bourgeois had been unable to conceive by 1939, so she and Goldwater briefly returned to France to adopt a French child, Michel. However, in 1940, she gave birth to another son, Jean-Louis, and in 1941, she gave birth to Alain.
, with several contemporaries, among them Barnett Newman
and Ad Reinhardt
. At this time she also befriended the artists Willem De Kooning
, Mark Rothko
, and Jackson Pollock
.
Much of her work is created from a constant evaluation of her own past as she finds inspiration from her childhood years. Consequently, there is constant investigation into her past and an abundance of information is readily available. Her middle years, however, are more opaque, which might be due to the fact that she received very little attention from the Art world during this time despite success in her early presentations in 1947. Also the early 40s illustrated the difficulties of a transition to New York City and the fight to enter the exhibition world there. Much of her work during this time was constructed from junkyard scraps and driftwood which she used to carve upright wood sculptures. The impurities of the wood were then camouflaged with paint after which nails were employed to invent holes and scratches in the endeavor to portray some emotion. The Sleeping Figure is one such example which is coined as a war figure that is unable to face the real world due to vulnerability. Her creations during this time bore the likeness of situations, friends and family from her previous years. During this time, she developed much artistic confidence as she shaped her work and audience.
During the early fifties she was found with the American Abstract Artists Group, and made the transitions from wood and upright structures to marble, plaster and bronze as she investigated concerns like fear, vulnerability and loss of control. These transitions are important as she appealed to her art as a series or sequence closely related to days and circumstances. She coined her early work as the fear of falling which later transformed into the art of falling and the final evolution was the art of hanging in there. Her conflicts in real life empowered her to authenticate her experiences and struggles through a unique art form. In 1958, Bourgeois and her husband moved into a terraced house
at West 22nd Street, in Chelsea
, Manhattan
, where she lived and worked for the rest of her life.
, Cooper Union
, Brooklyn College
and the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
. She also taught for many years in the public schools in Great Neck, Long Island.
Bourgeois received her first retrospective in 1982, by the Museum of Modern Art
in New York City
. Until then, she had been a peripheral figure in art whose work was more admired than acclaimed. In an interview with Artforum
, timed to coincide with the opening of her retrospective, she revealed that the imagery in her sculptures was wholly autobiographical. She confided to the world that she obsessively relived through her art the trauma of discovering, as a child, that her English governess was also her father’s mistress.
In 1993, when the Royal Academy of Arts
staged its comprehensive survey of American art
in the 20th century, the organizers did not consider Bourgeois' work of significant importance to include in the survey.
In 2001, she showed at the Hermitage Museum
.
In 2010, in the last year of her life, Bourgeois used her art to speak up for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT
) equality. She created the piece I Do, depicting two flowers growing from one stem, to benefit the nonprofit organization Freedom to Marry
.
Bourgeois had a history of activism on behalf of LGBT equality, having created artwork for the AIDS
activist organization ACT UP in 1993.
on 31 May 2010, at the Beth Israel Medical Center
in New York City.
Wendy Williams, the managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio, announced her death. She had continued to create artwork until her death, her last pieces were finished the week before.
The New York Times
said that her work "shared a set of repeated themes, centered on the human body and its need for nurture and protection in a frightening world."
Her husband, Robert Goldwater
, died in 1973. She is survived by two sons, Alain Bourgeois and Jean-Louis Bourgeois
. Her third son, Michel, died in 1990.
The cells enclose psychological and intellectual states, primarily feelings of fear and pain. Bourgeois stated that the Cells represent “different types of pain; physical, emotional and psychological, mental and intellectual… Each Cell deals with a fear. Fear is pain… Each Cell deals with the pleasure of the voyeur, the thrill of looking and being looked at.”
, which stands more than nine metres high, is a steel and marble sculpture from which an edition of six bronzes were subsequently cast. It first made an appearance as part of Bourgeois’ commission for The Unilever Series for Tate Modern’s
Turbine Hall in 2000. It is the largest Spider sculpture ever made by Bourgeois.
The sculpture alludes to the strength of her mother, with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection.
After Louise's mother became sick with influenza Louise's father began having affairs with other women, most notably with Sadie, Louise's English tutor. Louise was extremely watchful and aware of the situation. This was the beginning of the artists' engagement with double standards related to gender and sexuality, which also comes out in much of her work as discussed below. She recalls her father saying "I love you" repeatedly to her mother despite infidelity. "He was the wolf, and she was the rational hare, forgiving and accepting him as he was." Page text.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
The Destruction of the Father (1974)
Cell-Chiosy (1990-First of the Cell Series)
Cell: You Better Grow Up (1993)
This a piece within Louise's cell series. This speaks directly to Louise's childhood trauma and the insecurity that surrounded her.
Red Room—Parents (1994)
The Woven Child (2002)
Give or Take (2002) - Hidden emotion defines this piece, it represents the intense dilemma that people face throughout their lives as they attempt to balance the actions of giving and taking. This dilemma is not only represented by the shape of the sculpture, but also the heaviness of the material this piece is made of.
2) Architecture & Memory
Architecture and memory are important components of Bourgeois' work. In numerous interviews, Louise described architecture as a visual expression of memory, or memory as a type of architecture. The memory which is featured in much of her work is an invented memory - about the death or exorcism of her father. The imagined memory is interwoven with her real memories including; living across from a slaughterhouse, visiting her father at the front and her father's affair. To Louise her father represented injury and war, aggrandizement of himself and belittlement of others and most importantly a man who represented betrayal. Page text.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
The Destruction of the Father (1974)
Cell (Three White Marble Spheres) (1993)
This piece is from Louise Bourgeois' Cell Series. It certainly speaks to fear and captivity. The mirrors within the present an altered and distorted reality.
Maman (1999)
3) Sexuality and fragility
Sexuality is undoubtedly one of the most important themes of Louise Bourgeois' work. The link between sexuality and fragility or insecurity is also powerful. One might argue that this stems from her childhood memories and her father's affairs.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
Spiral Woman (1952)
This piece combines Louise's focus on female sexuality and torture. The flexing leg and arm muscles indicate that the Spiral Woman is still above though she is being suffocated and hung.
Fillette (1968)
Fragile Goddess (1970)
Sainte Sebastienne (1992)
Bougeois. After having read this quote "The personal themes of loneliness, anxiety, sexual tension, and jealousy have preoccupied Bourgeois since her early years as an artist and continue to find expression in her sculpture, installations, and prints." Page text.
In and Out (1995)
The connection between this piece and LB's focus on sexuality is clear from the first glance. The cold metal materials used link sexuality with anger and perhaps even captivity rather than with passion or love.
The Couple (2002)
French American
French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
and contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, and for her spider structures, titled Maman
Maman
Maman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high and over 33ft wide, with a sac containing 26 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made up of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother.Maman is amongst the...
, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman. She is recognized today as the founder of confessional art.
In the late 1940s, after moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with her American husband, Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. He was married to the late French-born American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.Born in New York City, Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from...
, she turned to sculpture. Though her works are abstract, they are suggestive of the human figure and express themes of betrayal, anxiety, and loneliness. Her work was wholly autobiographical, inspired by her childhood trauma of discovering that her English governess was also her father’s mistress.
Early life
Bourgeois was born on 25 December 1911 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. She was the middle child of three born to parents Josephine Fauriaux and Louis Bourgeois. Her parents owned a gallery that dealt primarily in antique tapestries
Tapestry
Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom, however it can also be woven on a floor loom as well. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length and those parallel to the width ; the warp threads are set up under tension on a...
. A few years after her birth, her family moved out of Paris and set up a workshop for tapestry restoration below their apartment in Choisy-le-Roi
Choisy-le-Roi
Choisy-le-Roi is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:Crossed by the Seine river, it is located from the center of Paris....
, for which Bourgeois filled in the designs where they had become worn.
By 1924 her father, a tyrannical philanderer
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
, was indulging in an extended affair with her English teacher and nanny. According to Bourgeois, her mother, Josephine, “an intelligent, patient and enduring, if not calculating, person,” was aware of her husband's infidelity, but found it easier to turn a blind eye. Bourgeois, an alert little girl, hoarded her memories in her diaries.
As a child, Bourgeois did not meet her father's expectations due to her lack of ability. Eventually, he came to adore her for her talent and spirit, but she continued to hate him for his explosive temper, domination of the household, and for teasing her in front of others.
In 1930, Bourgeois entered the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
to study mathematics and geometry, subjects that she valued for their stability.
Her mother died in 1932, while Bourgeois was studying mathematics. Her mother's death inspired her to abandon mathematics and to begin studying art. Her father thought modern artists were wastrels and refused to support her. She continued to study art by joining classes where translators were needed for English-speaking students, in which those translators were not charged tuition. In one such class Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
saw her work and told her she was a sculptor, not a painter.
Bourgeois graduated from the Sorbonne in 1935, and continued to study art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. The school was founded in 1902 by the Swiss Martha Stettler , who refused to teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts. It opened the way to the "Art Indépendant"...
, where she studied from 1937 to 1938 and at various other art schools, such as the École du Louvre
École du Louvre
The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and French Grande École located in the Aile de Flore of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, France, and is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy....
and the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
. During the time in which she was enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, she turned to her father's infidelities for inspiration. She discovered her creative impulse in her childhood traumas and tensions.
Bourgeois had a desire for first-hand experience, and frequently visited studios in Paris, learning techniques from the artists and assisting with exhibitions.
Bourgeois briefly opened a print store beside her father's tapestry workshop. Her father helped her on the grounds that she had entered into a commerce-driven profession.
Bourgeois met her husband Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. He was married to the late French-born American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.Born in New York City, Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from...
, an American art historian noted for his pioneering work in the field then referred to as primitive art
Tribal art
Tribal art is an umbrella term used to describe visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as Ethnographic art, or, controversially, Primitive Art, tribal arts have historically been collected by Western anthropologists, private collectors, and museums, particularly...
, in 1938 at Bourgeois' print store. Goldwater had visited the store to purchase a selection of prints by Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, and "in between talks about surrealism and the latest trends, [they] got married." They migrated to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
the same year, where Goldwater resumed his career as professor of the arts at New York University Institute of Fine Arts
New York University Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts is one of the 14 divisions of New York University . It offers a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy, the Advanced Certificate in Conservation of Works of Art, and the Certificate in Curatorial Studies...
, while Bourgeois attended the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
, studying painting under Vaclav Vytlacil, and also producing sculptures and prints.
Bourgeois had been unable to conceive by 1939, so she and Goldwater briefly returned to France to adopt a French child, Michel. However, in 1940, she gave birth to another son, Jean-Louis, and in 1941, she gave birth to Alain.
Middle years
In 1954, Bourgeois joined the American Abstract Artists GroupAmerican Abstract Artists
American Abstract Artists was formed in 1936 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas, and for...
, with several contemporaries, among them Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman was an American artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the color field painters.-Early life:...
and Ad Reinhardt
Ad Reinhardt
Adolph Frederick Reinhardt was an Abstract painter active in New York beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists and was a part of the movement centered around the Betty Parsons Gallery that became known as Abstract Expressionism...
. At this time she also befriended the artists Willem De Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
, Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko, born Marcus Rothkowitz , was a Russian-born American painter. He is classified as an abstract expressionist, although he himself rejected this label, and even resisted classification as an "abstract painter".- Childhood :Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Province, Russian...
, and Jackson Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
.
Much of her work is created from a constant evaluation of her own past as she finds inspiration from her childhood years. Consequently, there is constant investigation into her past and an abundance of information is readily available. Her middle years, however, are more opaque, which might be due to the fact that she received very little attention from the Art world during this time despite success in her early presentations in 1947. Also the early 40s illustrated the difficulties of a transition to New York City and the fight to enter the exhibition world there. Much of her work during this time was constructed from junkyard scraps and driftwood which she used to carve upright wood sculptures. The impurities of the wood were then camouflaged with paint after which nails were employed to invent holes and scratches in the endeavor to portray some emotion. The Sleeping Figure is one such example which is coined as a war figure that is unable to face the real world due to vulnerability. Her creations during this time bore the likeness of situations, friends and family from her previous years. During this time, she developed much artistic confidence as she shaped her work and audience.
During the early fifties she was found with the American Abstract Artists Group, and made the transitions from wood and upright structures to marble, plaster and bronze as she investigated concerns like fear, vulnerability and loss of control. These transitions are important as she appealed to her art as a series or sequence closely related to days and circumstances. She coined her early work as the fear of falling which later transformed into the art of falling and the final evolution was the art of hanging in there. Her conflicts in real life empowered her to authenticate her experiences and struggles through a unique art form. In 1958, Bourgeois and her husband moved into a terraced house
Terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace house, terrace, row house, linked house or townhouse is a style of medium-density housing that originated in Great Britain in the late 17th century, where a row of identical or mirror-image houses share side walls...
at West 22nd Street, in Chelsea
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
, Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, where she lived and worked for the rest of her life.
Later life
In 1973, Bourgeois began teaching at the Pratt InstitutePratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
, Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
and the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at 8 West 8th Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York State is an art school formed in 1963 by a group of students and their teacher, Mercedes Matter, all of whom had become disenchanted with the fragmented...
. She also taught for many years in the public schools in Great Neck, Long Island.
Bourgeois received her first retrospective in 1982, by the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Until then, she had been a peripheral figure in art whose work was more admired than acclaimed. In an interview with Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
, timed to coincide with the opening of her retrospective, she revealed that the imagery in her sculptures was wholly autobiographical. She confided to the world that she obsessively relived through her art the trauma of discovering, as a child, that her English governess was also her father’s mistress.
In 1993, when the Royal Academy of Arts
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
staged its comprehensive survey of American art
Visual arts of the United States
American art encompasses the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement,...
in the 20th century, the organizers did not consider Bourgeois' work of significant importance to include in the survey.
In 2001, she showed at the Hermitage Museum
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
.
In 2010, in the last year of her life, Bourgeois used her art to speak up for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) equality. She created the piece I Do, depicting two flowers growing from one stem, to benefit the nonprofit organization Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry
Freedom to Marry is a non-profit organization leading the campaign for same-sex marriages to be recognized nationwide in the United States of America...
.
Bourgeois had a history of activism on behalf of LGBT equality, having created artwork for the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
activist organization ACT UP in 1993.
Death
Bourgeois died of heart failureMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on 31 May 2010, at the Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center
Beth Israel Medical Center is a 1,368-bed, full-service tertiary teaching hospital in New York City. Originally dedicated to serving immigrant Jews living in the tenement slums of the Lower East Side, it was founded at the turn of the 20th century. The main hospital location is the Petrie...
in New York City.
Wendy Williams, the managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio, announced her death. She had continued to create artwork until her death, her last pieces were finished the week before.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that her work "shared a set of repeated themes, centered on the human body and its need for nurture and protection in a frightening world."
Her husband, Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater
Robert Goldwater was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. He was married to the late French-born American artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.Born in New York City, Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from...
, died in 1973. She is survived by two sons, Alain Bourgeois and Jean-Louis Bourgeois
Jean-Louis Bourgeois
Jean-Louis Bourgeois is an author and the son of artist Louise Bourgeois and art historian Robert Goldwater. He is the author of the volume "The spectacular vernacular: the adobe tradition" which established him as one of the foremost experts in the world on the subject...
. Her third son, Michel, died in 1990.
Destruction of the Father
Destruction of the Father (1974) is a biographical and a psychological exploration of the power dominance of father and his offspring. The piece is a flesh-toned installation in a soft and womb-like room. Made of plaster, latex, wood, fabric, and red light, Destruction of the Father was the first piece in which she used soft materials on a large scale. Upon entering the installation, the viewer stands in the aftermath of a crime. Set in a stylized dining room (with the dual impact of a bedroom), the abstract blob-like children of an overbearing father have rebelled, murdered, and eaten him.Cells
While in her eighties, Bourgeois produced two series of enclosed installation works she referred to as Cells. Many are small enclosures into which the viewer is prompted to peer inward at arrangements of symbolic objects; others are small rooms into which the viewer is invited to enter. In the cell pieces, Bourgeois uses earlier sculptural forms, found objects as well as personal items that carried strong personal emotional charge for the artist.The cells enclose psychological and intellectual states, primarily feelings of fear and pain. Bourgeois stated that the Cells represent “different types of pain; physical, emotional and psychological, mental and intellectual… Each Cell deals with a fear. Fear is pain… Each Cell deals with the pleasure of the voyeur, the thrill of looking and being looked at.”
Maman
In the late 1990s, Bourgeois began using the spider as a central image in her art. MamanMaman
Maman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high and over 33ft wide, with a sac containing 26 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made up of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother.Maman is amongst the...
, which stands more than nine metres high, is a steel and marble sculpture from which an edition of six bronzes were subsequently cast. It first made an appearance as part of Bourgeois’ commission for The Unilever Series for Tate Modern’s
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
Turbine Hall in 2000. It is the largest Spider sculpture ever made by Bourgeois.
The sculpture alludes to the strength of her mother, with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection.
Pervasive themes
1) Childhood Trauma & Hidden EmotionAfter Louise's mother became sick with influenza Louise's father began having affairs with other women, most notably with Sadie, Louise's English tutor. Louise was extremely watchful and aware of the situation. This was the beginning of the artists' engagement with double standards related to gender and sexuality, which also comes out in much of her work as discussed below. She recalls her father saying "I love you" repeatedly to her mother despite infidelity. "He was the wolf, and she was the rational hare, forgiving and accepting him as he was." Page text.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
The Destruction of the Father (1974)
Cell-Chiosy (1990-First of the Cell Series)
Cell: You Better Grow Up (1993)
This a piece within Louise's cell series. This speaks directly to Louise's childhood trauma and the insecurity that surrounded her.
Red Room—Parents (1994)
The Woven Child (2002)
Give or Take (2002) - Hidden emotion defines this piece, it represents the intense dilemma that people face throughout their lives as they attempt to balance the actions of giving and taking. This dilemma is not only represented by the shape of the sculpture, but also the heaviness of the material this piece is made of.
2) Architecture & Memory
Architecture and memory are important components of Bourgeois' work. In numerous interviews, Louise described architecture as a visual expression of memory, or memory as a type of architecture. The memory which is featured in much of her work is an invented memory - about the death or exorcism of her father. The imagined memory is interwoven with her real memories including; living across from a slaughterhouse, visiting her father at the front and her father's affair. To Louise her father represented injury and war, aggrandizement of himself and belittlement of others and most importantly a man who represented betrayal. Page text.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
The Destruction of the Father (1974)
Cell (Three White Marble Spheres) (1993)
This piece is from Louise Bourgeois' Cell Series. It certainly speaks to fear and captivity. The mirrors within the present an altered and distorted reality.
Maman (1999)
3) Sexuality and fragility
Sexuality is undoubtedly one of the most important themes of Louise Bourgeois' work. The link between sexuality and fragility or insecurity is also powerful. One might argue that this stems from her childhood memories and her father's affairs.
Consider the following works in light of this theme:
Spiral Woman (1952)
This piece combines Louise's focus on female sexuality and torture. The flexing leg and arm muscles indicate that the Spiral Woman is still above though she is being suffocated and hung.
Fillette (1968)
Fragile Goddess (1970)
Sainte Sebastienne (1992)
Bougeois. After having read this quote "The personal themes of loneliness, anxiety, sexual tension, and jealousy have preoccupied Bourgeois since her early years as an artist and continue to find expression in her sculpture, installations, and prints." Page text.
In and Out (1995)
The connection between this piece and LB's focus on sexuality is clear from the first glance. The cold metal materials used link sexuality with anger and perhaps even captivity rather than with passion or love.
The Couple (2002)
Documentary
- 2008
Exhibitions
- 1947Persistent Antagonism at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
- 1949Untitled at Art Institute of Chicago, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. - 1967Untitled at National Academy of Design, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - 1972Number Seventy-Two at Storm King Art Center, MountainvilleMountainville, New YorkMountainville is a hamlet in the western section of the town of Cornwall, in Orange County, New York, USA. It is mostly wooded, lightly populated area, located in the narrow valley of Woodbury and Moodna creeks between Schunemunk Mountain and the Hudson Highlands. The New York State Thruway and NY...
. - 1982Eyes, marble sculpture, at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. - 1984Nature Study: Eyes at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, BuffaloBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. - 1992Sainte Sebastienne at Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas.
- 1994The Nest at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
- 1995Exhibition at Galerie Rudolfinum, PraguePraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. - 1997MamanMamanMaman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high and over 33ft wide, with a sac containing 26 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made up of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother.Maman is amongst the...
at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas CityKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. - 1999MamanMamanMaman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high and over 33ft wide, with a sac containing 26 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made up of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother.Maman is amongst the...
at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, BilbaoBilbaoBilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
. - 2000Fallen Woman at Galleria d'arte moderna Palazzo Forti, VeronaVeronaVerona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
. - 2007MamanMamanMaman is a sculpture by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which resembles a spider, is over 30ft high and over 33ft wide, with a sac containing 26 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made up of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother.Maman is amongst the...
at Tate Modern, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - 2008Exhibition at Centre Georges Pompidou, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. - 2008Louise Bourgeois Full Career Retrospective at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. - 2008Nature Study, at Inverleith House, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. - 2008Louise Bourgeois for Capodimonte, at National Museum of Capodimonte, NaplesNaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. - 2009Louise Bourgeois: Moi, Eugénie Grandet, un processus d'identification, at Maison de BalzacMaison de BalzacThe Maison de Balzac is a house museum in the former residence of French novelist Honoré de Balzac . It is located in the 16th arrondissement at 47, rue Raynouard, Paris, France, and open daily except Mondays and holidays; admission to the house is free, but a fee is charged for its temporary...
, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. - 2010Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works, at Fondazione Vedova, VeniceVeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. Travelling to Hauser & WirthHauser & WirthHauser & Wirth is one of the world's leading contemporary art galleries. In addition to representing over 40 established and emerging artists, the gallery represents the estates of Eva Hesse, Allan Kaprow, Lee Lozano, Jason Rhoades, Dieter Roth and André Thomkins, as well as the Henry Moore Family...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - 2011Louise Bourgeois: À L’Infini, at Fondation Beyeler, RiehenRiehenRiehen is a municipality in the canton of Basel-Stadt in Switzerland. Together with the city of Basel and Bettingen, Riehen is one of three municipalities in the canton....
, Exhibition date: 3 Sep 2011 - 8 Jan 2012. - 2011Louise Bourgeois. The Return of the Repressed, at Fundación Proa, Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.Travelling to Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São PauloSão PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
and Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de JaneiroRio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. - 2011Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) at The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, Exhibition date: 21 Apr 2011 - 18 Mar 2012.
Honors and awards
- 1991Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture AwardInternational Sculpture CenterThe International Sculpture Center is a 5013 nonprofit organization founded in 1960. It is located on the old New Jersey Fairground in Hamilton, New Jersey...
. - 1997National Medal of ArtsNational Medal of ArtsThe National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and patrons of the arts. It is the highest honor conferred to an individual artist on behalf of the people. Honorees are selected by the National Endowment for the...
. - 2008National Order of the Legion of HonourLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. - 2009"Commandeur" of the pataphysical Ordre de la Grande Gidouille.
Influence
In October 2007, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
published an article titled Kisses for Spiderwoman. The article consisted of five interviews with British contemporary artists; Rachel WhitereadRachel WhitereadRachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
, Dorothy CrossDorothy CrossDorothy Cross is an artist born in Cork, Ireland. Working with diverse media, which includes sculpture, photography, video and installation she represented Ireland at the 1993 Venice Biennale...
, Stella VineStella VineStella Vine is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in...
, Richard Wentworth and Jane and Louise WilsonJane and Louise WilsonJane Wilson and Louise Wilson are British artists who work together as a sibling duo. Jane and Louise Wilson's art work is based in video, film and photography...
, about how Bourgeois' art inspired them.
More recently, the interdisciplinary performance artPerformance artIn art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist, dancer, and multiple amputee Lisa BufanoLisa BufanoLisa Bufano, is a disabled American interdisciplinary performance artist whose work incorporates elements of doll-making, animation, and dance.-Early life:...
has listed Louise Bourgeois' cell installations in her artist's statement as an influence.
Images
External links
- Louise Bourgeois in the MoMA Online Collection
- Xavier Hufkens Gallery
- Louise Bourgeois: À L’Infini. Exhibition at Fondation Beyeler Video: Exhibition and interview with curator Dr. Ulf Küster.
- "Webcam of the sculpture "Maman" outside of the The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/webcam.php"