Description

A centenarian artist

Louise Bourgeois (December 25, 1911 – May 31, 2010) is one of the most important artists of our epoch. This book, published in 2011 to mark what would have been the French-American sculptress’s 100th birthday, is devoted to the central themes of her oeuvre. It tells the story of her life, identifies the artistic encounters that helped shape her own visual language, and discusses the ways in which she transformed personal emotions into works of art.

Over the course of nine chapters, a selection of Louise Bourgeois’ most characteristic works are presented and situated within their art-historical context by comparing and contrasting them with works from the Beyeler Collection. Louise Bourgeois was one of the first women artists to position her sculptures as installations and to design entire spaces. She thereby experimented with materials of all different kinds. Louise Bourgeois abolished the opposition between figural and abstract that was so crucial for modernism, and thereby infused her art with a singular level of interpretation above and beyond the purely visual. Part of the Art to Read series, this publication is an introduction to the life and work of a woman who made a key contribution to modern and contemporary art. Interested newcomers as well as firm fans of Louise Bourgeois’ art will welcome this enriching and illuminating book.