Louise Bourgeois

Louise Bourgeois is among the most prominent contemporary sculptors. Strongly influenced by surrealism, abstract expressionism, and minimalism, her work focuses on the exploration of her psyche. A recurring theme is her troubled childhood and difficult relationship with her father. Despite early success, she did not receive widespread acclaim until the ’70s. Her 1982 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art was the museum’s first-ever retrospective of a woman artist. Since...
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Louise Bourgeois is among the most prominent contemporary sculptors. Strongly influenced by surrealism, abstract expressionism, and minimalism, her work focuses on the exploration of her psyche. A recurring theme is her troubled childhood and difficult relationship with her father. Despite early success, she did not receive widespread acclaim until the ’70s. Her 1982 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art was the museum’s first-ever retrospective of a woman artist. Since then, she has exhibited worldwide, producing a beguiling body of work featuring spiders, cages, architectural sculptures, drawings, and found objects ranging in scale from intimate to monumental. Her staggering variety of mediums includes rubber, wood, stone, metal, and fabric. In 1993, she represented the United States at the Venice Biennale. This book accompanies a major retrospective touring exhibition. An overview of Bourgeois’s career, it covers individual works, art movements, other artists, and themes that have played an important role in her life and art, with text by acclaimed authors and critics, including Julia Kristeva, Elisabeth Lebovici, Frances Morris, Mignon Nixon, Linda Nochlin, Robert Storr, Alex Potts, Marina Warner, and Deborah Wye. Exhibition Schedule:Tate Modern, London (October 11, 2007–January 20, 2008) Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (March 5–June 2008) Guggenheim Museum, New York (June 27–September 28, 2008) LAMoCA (October 25, 2008–January 25, 2009) Hirshhorn, Washington (February 28–June 7, 2009 tentative)