Life Louise Bourgeois

1 life

1.1 life
1.2 middle years
1.3 later life
1.4 death

life

sculpture bourgeois in domestic incidents group exhibit @ london s tate modern turbine hall, 2006


early life

bourgeois born on 25 december 1911 in paris, france. second child of 3 born parents josephine fauriaux , louis bourgeois. had older sister , younger brother. parents owned gallery dealt in antique tapestries. few years after birth, family moved out of paris , set workshop tapestry restoration below apartment in choisy-le-roi, bourgeois filled in designs had become worn. lower part of tapestries damaged characters’ feet , animals’ paws. many of bourgeois’s works have extremely fragile , frail feet result of former.

by 1924 father, tyrannical philanderer, indulging in extended affair english teacher , nanny. according bourgeois, mother, josephine, “an intelligent, patient , enduring, if not calculating, person,” aware of husband s infidelity, found easier turn blind eye. bourgeois, alert little girl, hoarded memories in diaries. result, wished execute manipulation in similar manner; medium became sculpture. father’s affair became weapon in revenge. sculptures enables 1 overcome problem displacing it; allows freedom manners forbade child do.

as child, bourgeois did not meet father s expectations due lack of ability. eventually, came adore her talent , spirit, continued hate him explosive temper, domination of household, , teasing in front of others.

in 1930, bourgeois entered sorbonne study mathematics , geometry, subjects valued stability, saying got peace of mind, through study of rules nobody change.

her mother died in 1932, while bourgeois studying mathematics. mother s death inspired abandon mathematics , begin studying art. father thought modern artists wastrels , refused support her. continued study art joining classes translators needed english-speaking students, in translators not charged tuition. in 1 such class fernand léger saw work , told sculptor, not painter.

bourgeois graduated sorbonne 1935, began studying art in paris, first @ École des beaux-arts , École du louvre , , after 1932 in independent academies of montparnasse , montmartre such académie colarossi, académie ranson, académie julian, académie de la grande chaumière , andré lhote, fernand léger, paul colin , cassandre. during time in enrolled @ École des beaux-arts, turned father s infidelities inspiration. discovered creative impulse in childhood traumas , tensions.

bourgeois had desire first-hand experience, , visited studios in paris, learning techniques artists , assisting exhibitions.

bourgeois briefly opened print store beside father s tapestry workshop. father helped on grounds had entered commerce-driven profession.

bourgeois met husband robert goldwater, american art historian noted pioneering work in field referred primitive art, in 1938 @ bourgeois s print store. goldwater had visited store purchase selection of prints pablo picasso, , in between talks surrealism , latest trends, [they] got married. emigrated new york city same year, goldwater resumed career professor of arts @ new york university institute of fine arts, while bourgeois attended art students league of new york, studying painting under vaclav vytlacil, , producing sculptures , prints. first painting had grid: grid peaceful thing because nothing can go wrong… complete. there no room anxiety… has place, welcome.

bourgeois had been unable conceive 1939, , goldwater briefly returned france adopt french child, michel. however, in 1940, gave birth son, jean-louis, , in 1941, gave birth alain.

middle years

for bourgeois 1940s represented difficulties of transition new country , struggle enter exhibition world of new york city. work during time constructed junkyard scraps , driftwood used carve upright wood sculptures. impurities of wood camouflaged paint, after nails employed invent holes , scratches in endeavor portray emotion. sleeping figure 1 such example depicts war figure unable face real world due vulnerability. throughout life, bourgeois s work created revisiting of own troubled past found inspiration , temporary catharsis childhood years , abuse suffered father. developed more artistic confidence, although middle years more opaque, might due fact received little attention art world despite having first solo show in 1945.

in 1954, bourgeois joined american abstract artists group, several contemporaries, among them barnett newman , ad reinhardt. @ time befriended artists willem de kooning, mark rothko, , jackson pollock. part of american abstract artists group, bourgeois made transition wood , upright structures marble, plaster , bronze investigated concerns fear, vulnerability , loss of control. transition turning point. referred art series or sequence closely related days , circumstances, describing work fear of falling later transformed art of falling , final evolution art of hanging in there. conflicts in real life empowered authenticate experiences , struggles through unique art form. in 1958, bourgeois , husband moved terraced house @ west 20th street, in chelsea, manhattan, lived , worked rest of life.

despite fact rejected idea art feminist, borgeois’s subject feminine. works such femme maison (1946-1947), torso self-portrait (1963-1964), arch of hysteria (1993), depict feminine body. sexually explicit sculptures such janus fleuri, (1968) show not afraid use female form in new ways. has been quoted “my work deals problems pre-gender, wrote. example, jealousy not male or female.

later life

in 1973, bourgeois started teaching @ pratt institute, cooper union, brooklyn college , new york studio school of drawing, painting , sculpture. taught many years in public schools in great neck, long island.

in 1970s, bourgeois hold gatherings called “sunday, bloody sundays” @ home in chelsea. these salons filled young artists , students work critiqued bourgeois. bourgeois ruthlessness in critique , dry sense of humor lead naming of these meetings. bourgeois inspired many young students make art feminist in nature.

bourgeois aligned herself activists , became member of fight censorship group, feminist anti-censorship collective founded fellow artist anita steckel. in 1970s, group defended use of sexual imagery in artwork. steckel argued, “if erect penis not wholesome enough go museums, should not considered wholesome enough go women.”

bourgeois received first retrospective in 1982, museum of modern art in new york city. until then, had been peripheral figure in art work more admired acclaimed. in interview artforum, timed coincide opening of retrospective, revealed imagery in sculptures wholly autobiographical. shared world obsessively relived through art trauma of discovering, child, english governess father’s mistress.

bourgeois had retrospective in 1989 @ documenta 9 in kassel, germany. in 1993, when royal academy of arts staged comprehensive survey of american art in 20th century, organizers did not consider bourgeois s work of significant importance include in survey. however, survey criticized many omissions, 1 critic writing whole sections of best american art have been wiped out , pointing out few women included. in 2000 works selected shown @ opening of tate modern in london. in 2001, showed @ hermitage museum.

in 2010, in last year of life, bourgeois used art speak lesbian, gay, bisexual , transgender (lgbt) equality. created piece do, depicting 2 flowers growing 1 stem, benefit nonprofit organization freedom marry. bourgeois has said should have right marry. make commitment love forever beautiful thing. bourgeois had history of activism on behalf of lgbt equality, having created artwork aids activist organization act in 1993.

death

bourgeois died of heart failure on 31 may 2010, @ beth israel medical center in manhattan. wendy williams, managing director of louise bourgeois studio, announced death. had continued create artwork until death, last pieces being finished week before.

the new york times said work shared set of repeated themes, centered on human body , need nurture , protection in frightening world.

her husband, robert goldwater, died in 1973. survived 2 sons, alain bourgeois , jean-louis bourgeois. first son, michel, died in 1990.