Introducing Louise Bourgeois: sculptor, painter, installation artist. (French,
lived in USA, 1911 – 2010.)
Cell (Arch of hysteria), 1992, steel, bronze, cast iron, fabric, 302 x 368 x 304cm
Bourgeois’s work is intensely autobiographical. It is often based upon
descriptions of the body or body parts (or things that look like some kind of body
part.) When she was a young child, her father started a long affair with her live-in
governess. At around the same time, her mother became severely ill and the
young child Louise was her carer. As well, Louise played a working role in the
family tapestry-repair business. These experiences were intensely traumatic and
were the inspiration for all her work.
Also, the general fact of being a female artist in the first half of the century,
producing rather disturbing work, would have been quite difficult. She was a wife
and mother as well, so had responsibilities other than her art.
.
Femmes Maison, (Women Houses),
drawings, dimensions various, 19467.
Destruction of the father,
installation, 1974, plaster,
latex, fabric, red light. 237 x
362 x 248cm
Detail, below
Bourgeois was associated with the Surrealists in the 1940s when she first moved to the
USA from Europe. Like the Surrealists, she was interested in the unconscious and in
sexuality. However she was very individual, working outside of any particular art
movement. Right up until her death at 98 she was interested in art and working on her
own practise.
Eccentric Growth, ink on paper, 1965, 24x33cm
Organic proliferation is a common
Theme in Bourgeois’s work…that is,
the way things naturally grow,
multiply, bulge and flow. Often this
echoes what happens in various parts
of our bodies.
During the 1990s she developed the theme of the
‘Cell’ –
an installation that looks like a prisoner’s or
monk’s cell, or a room of some kind. It generally
has a bed, or at least a domestic sense – tables,
chairs. She has done many of these, with various
contents. Sometimes they are very spooky and
creepy, others are more compassionate or gentle.
All of them are mysterious.
Detail>>
Cell II, detail, 1991
Cell – (glass, spheres and hands), 1990-93>
This in-built contradiction between protection / imprisonment is an on-going theme,
explored in different ways over the decades.
Cell – precious liquids, 1992
Cell (eyes and mirrors) detail, 1989-93
Another somewhat similar theme is the ‘lair’. Again, there is security but also containment
Lair, 1986-2000, lead, 109 x
53 x 53cm
Articulated lair, 1986
Installation.
Spider IV, 1996
Maman, (Mother), 1999. Bourgeois created various
versions of this sculpture, either in bronze
or steel. Dimensions 927 X 892 X 1024CM
Sexual themes are never far away from Bourgeois’s practice. ….
The artist with her sculpture, Fillette, (Little Girl),
1982. Photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Can we locate Bourgeois’s practice within
what we have learnt about various art
styles /movements?
Trani Episode, 1971-2, marble, 60 x 60 x 58cm
Magritte, The Lovers,
1928
Leonora Carrington (UK 1917-2011), Portrait of
the late Mrs Partridge, 1947.
Dali, The accommodation of desire, oil and
collage on cardboard, 22 x 34cm, 1929
Eugene Carriere, The First Communion,
oil on canvas,65cm x 53cm, c. 1896.
Edvard Munch, The Scream,
1896
Fernand Khnopff, The sphinx, 1896
HSC QUESTION….JUST FOR FUN
Q.: Analyse Meret Oppenheim’s practice with reference to the plates and text.
(14 marks;25 minutes)
Meret Oppenheim worked and exhibited with the Surrealists: Andre Breton, Marcel
Duchamp and Max Ernst. The Surrealists were interested in exploring the unconscious.
Plate 1: Meret Oppenheim, 1913-1985
Germany, Ma gouvernante (my nurse),
1936, metal, leather, and paper. 14 x
21 x 33cm, Moderna Museet
Stockholm.
Oppenheim was 23 years old when she achieved sensational success with Object. It was
purchased in the same year by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Object rapidly
became one of the most recognised works of the Surrealist movement.
‘Who covers the soup spoon with precious fur? Little Meret. Who has outstripped
us? Little Meret.’ Text on the invitation to Meret Oppenheim’s first exhibition, 1936, Max
Ernst.
Plate 2: Meret Oppenheim, 19131985 Germany, Object (Luncheon in
Fur), 1936, fur-covered cup, saucer
and spoon. 10.9cm diameter of cup;
23.7cm diameter of saucer; 20.2cm
length of spoon. Museum of
Modern Art, New York.
http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/3/59
Victor Brauner, (Romania, 1903-1966) Loup-table
(Wolf-table), table and fox parts, 1939-47
Dora Maar (French, 1907-1997), Sans
Titre, (untitled), 1934,Photograph.
The Surrealist Object did not bring objects
together for their formal values or
beauty. It was with a different intention,
the intention to create an unsettling effect
which may help us access a deeper or
different reality. It makes us mentally ‘wobble’,
just for a moment.
Joan Miro, (Spanish 1893-1983), Object, assemblage,
81 x 30 x 26, 1936
Exquisite Corpse: a game of chance where you did a drawing, then folded the paper over
So the next person could not see anything, then they did a drawing of their own, etc.
Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara, & Greta
Knutson,
Landscape: exquisite corpse, c. 1933,
coloured pencil on paper, 24 x 31cm
Frottage: drawing on a support ( a canvas
or piece of paper), which is itself laying over a
textured surface. Rubbing or drawing over the
support brings the contours of the underneath
surface through onto the canvas or paper.
The idea behind this technique is that the
artist cannot rationally control the outcome.
There is a transformation; an entry into new
imagery.
Max Ernst, Conjugal diamonds, frottage, 1926,
49cm x 32cm
Decalcomania
Paint of some kind, or even ink is laid down on a support – paper, glass –
and then it’s folded in half, or another piece of paper is placed upon it and
squished so that the paint is transferred in ways that cannot be predicted.
Then an image may be created from this blob or blot.
Oscar Dominguez, (French, 19061957), Untitled, decalcomania using
gouache, 1936-7, 15 x 21cm
Q: Looking at Plates 1 & 2, using the
Structural Frame briefly outline three
ways the artists have used images
and /or symbols to convey meaning.
(10 minutes, 5 marks )
Plate 1: Andy Goldsworthy (UK B 1956) Ends of
Bamboo, 1987, installation Japan.
Plate 2: Michael Riley, (Aust. Indigenous, 19602004)
Untitled, from the series Cloud, 2000, digital
Pigment print, 110 x 155cm
Louise Bourgeois sources:
Museum of Modern Art, New York:
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3
A710&page_number=&template_id=6&sort_order=1#bio