ART-PRESENTATION: Louise Bourgeois-Turning Inwards
Though she is most widely recognised for her ambitious sculptures, Louise Bourgeois also produced a large body of works on paper throughout her lifetime. Bourgeois began making prints in the late ‘30s, first experimenting at home with relief techniques, and then learning lithography at the Art Students League. She practiced intaglio techniques, which she preferred, at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17. When she turned to sculpture later in the ‘40s, Bourgeois abandoned printmaking, taking it up again only in the late ‘80s, when it then became integral to her work.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Hauser & Wirth Gallery Archive
Hauser & Wirth Somerset in the town of Bruton hosts the solo exhibition of the works of Louise Bourgeois. Titled “Turning Inwards” the exhibition features a series of 38 soft-ground etchings made the period 2006-10. These works capture the strength and intimacy of her hand even in an advanced age. Placed in dialogue with a selection of sculptures from 1970 to 2005, this innovative sequence sheds new light on the late practice of one of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st Centuries. The theme of motherhood features prominently throughout Bourgeois’s work. Her own mother, whom she greatly admired, died at an early age. Entering the viewer is confronted by a giant bronze spider. The spider’s legs engulf the darkened space, reflecting formal and thematic dichotomies. From within its web the first of the series of etchings emerge. “The Nest” (2009), a thread-like composition, dense and complex, depicts the entangled thread of the spider’s allure, suggesting a retreat or safe haven, rather than a predator awaiting its prey. Bourgeois lived with four men (her husband and her three sons) and she saw herself as their protector. In “My Secret Life”’ (2007) the phallus is enclosed and supported by the breasts, which surround it. Despite the dichotomous nature of the caretaker theme in her work, it overwhelmingly reflects calm and peace. This is emphasised by the wall sculpture, “My Blue Sky” (1989-03) in which a mountainous landscape dissolves into breast-like forms as they float up towards the loosely rendered blue sky, a colour that represented, for Bourgeois, peace, meditation and escape. In striking juxtaposition to these works is a trio of totemic structures encased in a glass vitrine. Each column in “Untitled” (2005) is constructed from stacked parts, distinguishable in shape, material and colour. The works on display in the Rhoades gallery, address Bourgeois’s preoccupation with the natural world. Representations of plants, leaves and botanic forms are seen in works such as “The Smell of Eucalyptus (#1)” (2006) and “Les Fleurs” (2007). Others are more ambiguous and abstract in “The Fall” (2007), the protuberant biomorphic contours in the diptych “Swelling” (2007) and the gnarled structure in “The Unfolding” (2007). Three blue gouache enhanced etchings, all entitled “Look Up!” (2009-10), depict tangled, vein-like knots running vertiginously up the paper. Also on view is a series of portraits of Louise Bourgeois’s portraits by Alex Van Gelder. “Mumbling Beauty” is a portfolio of photographs taken of the artist in the final years of her life (2008-10)
Info: Hauser & Wirth Somerset, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset, Duration: 2/10/16-1/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00 (March-October) or 10:00-16:00 (November-February), www.hauserwirth.com
