Every month Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover offers us a chance to bring an earlier post back for a second look. This month I'm offering a second look at an artist I found interesting. Be sure to check the link to her fabric book if you have time.
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
*Louise Bourgeois*, Artist
“Art is a guarantee of sanity.”
I recently came across the work of *Louise Bourgeois*, an artist unfamiliar to me. Born in Paris in 1911, she moved to New York in the late 30's and was still creating until she died in 2010.
Considered a Surrealist artist, she produced hundreds of sculptures, installations, paintings, drawings and fabric pieces in numerous materials. She used traditional marble and bronze for sculptures alongside common castoffs (doors, furniture, clothes and empty bottles).
During the late 1990s, Bourgeois started using spiders in her artwork. The largest of her spider works was the sculpture 'Maman' which is over 9 meters tall and the original was made from steel and marble. The sculpture alludes to the strength of her mother in the knowledge of her father's behavior (adultery) and is symbolic of spinning, nurture and protection
I was most interested in this fabric book from an exhibit at the MOMA. "Bourgeois constructed the book’s linen binding and pages out of 60-year-old, monogrammed hand towels from her 1938 wedding. Then, working from one page to the next for six months, Bourgeois cut, arranged, and stitched her own used clothing and textiles to form 32 fabric collages. Fragmented and reconfigured, these personal artifacts conspire to be remembered as forgotten." You can read and view more here.
I discovered there are a few biographies about Bourgeois and I certainly want to read more about her.
Do you think you would find this artist's life interesting?
