In Memory: Artist in Focus - Louise Bourgeois

August 2010

"Life is made of experiences and emotions. The objects I have created make them tangible." Louise Bourgeois

World renowned French-born American artist and sculptor, Louise Bourgeois, who died on May 31 this year in New York at the age of 98 has been described by art historians as ‘the singularly most important female artist of the last century’. Highly regarded as a pioneer of autobiographical and confessional art, Bourgeois channelled the frustrations and tensions of her childhood to create visceral, stimulating pieces. Her recounted stories of betrayal and extensive exploration of the body and its limitations captivated generations and showed the way to younger female artists such as Jenny Holzer, Sophie Calle and Tracey Emin.

Born in Paris in 1911 to antique tapestry dealers, the young Bourgeois’ life was far from idyllic. As a child she was aware of the long term affair her father continued with the English governess he employed to teach her. At the age of twenty-one Bourgeouis’ mother passed away and this traumatic event inspired her to abandon her mathematics degree at the Sorbonne to study art. Originally trained as an engraver and painter at prestigious Parisian art schools Ecole du Lourve, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Académie Julian, and Atelier Fernand Léger; she continued her studies when she emigrated to America in 1938 and by the 1940’s had turned her attention to sculptural work, for which she is now recognised as a twentieth century leader.

Bourgeois’ most famous sculpture Maman (French for ‘Mummy’), originally exhibited in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2000 (and returned in 2004 and 2008), is a seminal piece from the late 1990’s which saw the spider introduced as a central motif to her work. For Bourgeois, the spider was a creature associated with her mother. Like the spider her mother was by profession a weaver, the persistent repairer of the family home and a woman of ever-changing mood swings. Standing over nine metres tall, Maman looms ominously over visitors on its spindly steel legs and cage of white marble eggs clutched protectively to its underbelly. The immense sculpture is an image of maternity that is both nurturing and terrifying, an example of Bourgeois’ constant exploration of the binary conditions present in life.

Drawing on a skill learnt from her mother, Bourgeois was one of the first modern artists to make extensive and strikingly inventive use of the thread and needle. She sewed witticisms on to clothes “I have been to hell and back. And let me tell you it was wonderful”, stitched androgynous human dolls and shaped grotesque faces with their eyes gouged out or lips parted out of frayed tapestry. Towards the last years of her life Bourgeois acknowledged her limitations and proceeded to use material more suitable to her dwindling strength. Consequently, Bourgeois sewed and drew more extensively with great energy and creative ability up until her death. One week after her death, the last exhibition she was actively involved in - Louise Bourgeois. The Fabric Works – opened at the Magazzino del Sale in Venice. On show until 19 September 2010 the exhibition showcases Bourgeois’ most recent works in the world’s first major tribute to the singularly most important female artist of the last century.

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