Louise Bourgeois: La Famille

by Thomas Kellein, Louise Bourgeois (Artist)

The fear of being born into the world an unwanted girl; the fear of becoming a pawn in the lives of her parents; the fear of failing as a wife, mother and Over the course of her 70 years as an artist, Louise Bourgeois, born in 1911 in Paris, has always placed the psychology of family at the center of her work. Bourgeois left her homeland in 1938, without a degree, to live in New York with her husband, Robert Goldwater, a curator at The Museum of Modern Art. In 1940, the couple adopted their first son, and in 1941 Bourgeois gave birth to two more boys. Her artistic oeuvre deals almost exclusively with the fear of not being able to live up to the roles she was born into and took on. Most of her early works consisted of paintings on the theme of family, many of which have rarely, if ever, been reproduced. When she first began sculpting, she portrayed children and family members as stakes fatefully stuck in the ground, "Personnages," with windows and openings, who occasionally carried small packages, but who seemed mute and paralyzed. Her later work grew more sexualized, and after the death of her husband, she pursued the paternal element intensely. This thematic gathering of 20 paintings, more than 60 drawings, 35 sculptures and 5 embroideries made between 1935 and 2005 is also, by virtue of the centrality of family to her oeuvre, an overarching retrospective, a focused view of her career.

Genres: Art

242 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2006

Reviews

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

for Shohat's psychoanalysis

“[Her mother] conveyed to Louise that men were generally childish and immature, but never specified the reasons. In a bid to build a stronger bond with her mother, Louise learned to drive a car at eighteen, so that thye could ar least have outings where sadie would be unable to interfere in the relationship between mother and child.” P15 Louise Bougoise : la famille

“It is not just the roles of her father and her mother that Bourgoise has repeatedly addressed in her art. Scholars and critics, fully aware of the eloquent references so often deployed in her works, openly talk od her “distinctive psychoanalytic feminism.” P.16 Louise Bougoise : la famille

“I have always stated my art as my psychoanalysis. I need to make things. The physical interaction with the medium as a curative effect. I meed the physical acting out. I need to hijab these objects exist in relationship to my own body. Freud and Lacan were interested in words and that does not work for me. But, I am interested in the sublimation and the unconscious.” p.16 Louise Bougoise : la famille

In relation to the red landscape painting of her home, Untitled 1940 (of a house and garden): ‘Each of us, my sister, my brother, and I, had a garden and we tried to make the most of it, learning the art of cutting trees, espaliering pears and apples … but that garden has another importance for me. We had a tent at the bottom of it, and sometimes we would sleep there. p48

In relation to Untitled 1940 (of two profiles and a figure in between): The strong figure on the left is the father, and the softer figure on the right is the mother. And there, in between, this creature appears, It is simply a self-portrait [...] One thing for certain is that I have to feel that the parents buttress me. I have to feel– in order to be a decent person– that my parents are on my side. P50

‘The thing that’s interesting to people is whether the woman is happy in this house or whether she is trying to hide in it. Obviously, ut ius a woman who hides. If you have to hide, it is not altogether positive. I would call it a semiconscious/unconscious state; it has to do with the fact that this woman, who is hiding, is not conscious. [...] this woman is in a state of semi-consciousness, because, first of all, she believes that she can hide, which is foolishness, nobody can hide anything. And secondly, nobody would present herself naked the way she does. You have to be high to do this. This woman is obviously nice looking, but she does not realise the effect she has on us. She does not know that she is half naked, and she does not know that she is trying to hide. That is to say, she is totally self defeating because she shows herself ay the very moment that she thinks she’s hiding. P61, about ‘femme maison’ 1945-47

I’m eating it, I’m stuffing my face with it, because I don’t know what to do with it. [...] I want to abolish them, because they are such a burden. The only way of making them disappear is to eat them, the way spies during the war used to get rid of evidence by swallowing it. P74 about Untitled 1943

And then when the sons came, I lost interest and he picked up– he took care of the children. He was a very tender father. Men are strange. I’m supposed to be the one to be tender, but he was the one. P78


Hair 1948, to see how she paints womens bodies this way

Breasted woman 1949-50, “Its a woman, and all these little appendages here are things that she possesses, namely what I posses– a family with three children [...] She’s completely open– and all her appendages. You see, I’m very proud. It’s very strange, but I’m very propud of what I possess. Physically and personally; the children, the house, and the friends. P106

‘The Fragile Goddess’ 1970: that is to say, she has no handsl She can’t defend herself, you see. She can’t defend herself because, well, its one of those English puns: she is armless she is harmless. P122

‘Nature study’ 1984, cast 2002 is a self portrait. The multiple breasts represent the fact that I had to protect my husband and three sons. The breasts are the nuturing mother which hover over the phallus. The claws represent the protecting mother who defends what she loves.’ p134

The Cells represent different types of pain: the physical, the emotional and psychological, and the mental and intellectual. When does the emitonal become the physical? When does the physical become the emotional? It’s a circle going round and round. Pain can begin at any point and turn in either direction. // Each cell begins with fear. Fear is pain. Often it is not perceived as pain, because it is always disguising itself. // Each Cell deals with the pleasure of the voyer; the thrill of looking and being looked at. The Cells either attract or repulse each other. There is this urge to integrate, merge, or disintegrate. 148 (cell VIII 1998)

Many of her drawings from 1987 are done in red ballpoint pen (pg172 onwards)

Untitled 1998 p.181

My mother would sit out in the sun and repair a tapestry or a petit point. She really loved it. This sense of reparation is very deep within me. // I break everything I touch because I am violent. I destroy my friendships, my love, my children. People would not generally suspect it, but the cruelty is there in the work. I break things because I am afraid and I spend my time repairing. I am a sadist because I am afraid. Yet the reconciliations between people never really stick. 185

Untitled 2003

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing artist, awesome selection of work, great book design (beautiful reproductions with minimal, pithy text). And what can I say, "la famille" is a subject very close to my own heart.