Louise Bourgeois, the renowned artist, died yesterday at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan at the age of 98.
Born in France, she studied painting at the École du Louvre and École des Beaux-Arts and worked as assistant to Fernand Léger, the legendary cubist painter. In 1938, she moved New York where she lived and worked for the duration of her life.
I saw her career retrospective at the Musée d'Art Moderne in 1996 while I was living in Paris and recall her signature work known as Mamam, a giant spider towering 30 above the gallery. One does not easily forget a monumental arachnid, whose eight steely legs reminded me of gothic archways as I passed underneath. Her artworks have been described as maternal, organic, and sexual. Louise Bourgeois worked in all media but is best known for her sculpture.
A long and remarkable life!
Thanks for posting this. I'm a past president of the New England Sculptors Association and have admired her work since I discovered her years and years ago.
ReplyDeleteI have a postcard somewhere in my collection that shows her holding an organic object that can only be described as a gigantic phallic.
RIP LB.
One of the signs of intelligence is some ability to accept or appreciate art unless it be a hard edge picture of something pleasant. It's nearly absent in our political opponents and often they use that fact to paint a picture of us as deranged or "entartet" as old Adolph used to say.
ReplyDeleteGlad to learn that about you Shaw. I was a private dealer for years and still have some art world friends from that era.
http://www.haberarts.com/louiseb.htm
ReplyDeleteJust a nice review of her MOMA retrospective a while back.
Hi,
ReplyDeletethank you so much for posting this, especially that gorgeous image of The She Fox. I am wondering, could you share with me where you found it? I can't find it anywhere else on the Internet, and I am working on a paper about it, and would love to find and use a higher res version.
thank you so much in advance for your help.
-madeleine