How does one sum up the career of Louise Bourgeois, the French-born American artist who died on Monday in New York City at the age of 98? One of the reigning sculptors of our time, Bourgeois’ tough and emotional work was inspired by the darkest corners of memory and psyche. Evocations of her youth were represented by sexually suggestive fragmented forms, anthropomorphized abstraction, and brobdingnagian arachnids…referencing her mother’s role as both a protector and host but also echoing her craft as a master weaver and tapestry maker.
Her parent’s troubled marriage, complicated by her father’s long-time affair with Bourgeois’ own tutor, who lived in their home, played out in her work and her methodology. The artist said, “When a tapestry had to be washed in the river, it took four people to hoist it out and twist it. Twisting is very important for me. When I dreamt of getting rid of the mistress, it was by twisting her neck.”* Bourgeois’ unique ability to catch memory, like so many pieces of wool on barbed wire, and turn it into her medium and muse, is where her power lies. Read the rest of this entry »
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