Game changers: Louise Bourgeois

I need to make things. The physical interaction with the medium has a curative effect. I need the physical acting out. I need to have these objects exist in relation to my body.

Louise Bourgeois Is one of the most prominent figures of modern and contemporary art. Born in Paris in 1911, she moved to America and settled in New York in 1938 following her marriage to American art professor Robert Goldwater.

Bourgeois studied at the École des beaux-arts, Académie de la grande chaumière, École du Louvre, Atelier Fernand Léger, as well as the Art Students League in New York City. 

While best known for her sculpture and installation art inspired by her own childhood memories and experiences, Bourgeois was also an avid painter and printmaker, a result of her being born into a family who operated a tapestry restoration business. But it was a challenging childhood for Bourgeois, many of her artworks being the result of working through her memories, mainly due to issues within her family however it is likely World War I played a role as well. 

Themes explored through her art include home life and the family, sexuality and the body, and death and the subconscious. 

Perhaps Bourgeois' most famous sculpture is Maman, a giant 9m tall spider made in 1999. Made from steel and marble, Maman now sits in residence at the Tate Modern, UK. Several smaller bronze editions were also subsequently cast, and these can be found at various museums around the world.

Source: The Guardian

The spider became a central theme throughout Bourgeois' works of the period, the spider being representative of the strength of her mother. Of the spider, Bourgeois said:

"The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother." 

Bourgeois’ artistic achievements are recognised internationally, winning awards in the USA and France, as well as receiving the Woman Award from the United Nations and Women Together in 2007.

Bourgeois died on May 31, 2010.

Source:
Guggenheim
The Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Tate Modern

Louise Bourgeois image copyright Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, sourced via Tate

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