American, born France
1911, Paris, France
2010, New York, New York
A native of France, Louise Bourgeois emigrated to the U.S. in 1938. Throughout her 70-year career, she has obsessively spun memories and traumas into archetypal figures such as the Father, Mother, Child, and Lover. These are represented in a complex symbolic language drawn from apparent opposites: breast and phallus, human and animal, plastic and flesh, seduction and repulsion. Her practice encompassed massive installations and private drawings, and demonstrated her mastery of materials as diverse as marble, bronze, wood, wax, latex, cement, and fabric — all in pursuit of the truthful expression of psychosexual states.
Louise Bourgeois says she “couldn’t handle life,“ so she became an artist to restore her sense of balance.
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