Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn't Sorry.

by Fausto Gilberti

A clever, quirky picture-book biography of one of the most important figures of modern and contemporary art Louise Bourgeois was a world-famous artist who told stories of her life through her art until she was 98 years old. She drew, wove, and sculpted pieces inspired by her experiences, often using everyday objects that reminded her of her family and her past. Her famous giant spiders fascinate – and sometimes terrify – art-lovers to this day, but the truth behind the inspiration for these towering sculptors is not as scary as it may seem. This is an inspiring story about a young girl who became the first female sculptor to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York – a unique picture-book celebration for children of one of the most important modern and contemporary woman artists of our time. Ages 4 - 7

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Biography, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

Published April 12, 2023

Reviews

[Luke Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Internet debates around the scariest movie of all time often include Denis Villenue’s Enemy, from 2013, which features an unexpected, massive spider which is loosely interpreted as psychoanalysis. Jake Gyllenhall returns home to the trappings of domesticity. The spider as a weaver of a web as a way of keeping you at home. Louise Bourgeois’s late life Maman (French for mommy, as Gilberti reminds us) is a massive steel spider sculpture which evokes home and weaving in a different way. Throughout the book it creeps along on the sidelines of the pages— very small at first— and we learn of Bourgeois at home, with animals, weaving with her mother, who Bourgeois lost at the age of 20; and finding her father’s storage space in the attic, with hanging chairs and old antiques. The memories of her childhood evoke concrete allegories of terror tropes, yet Bourgeois urges us to reconsider their meaning as love. “Louise felt safe with that giant spider watching over her,” Gilberti writes beside a drawing of her, with wide, cute-cartoon eyes and a simple, long dress, swinging beneath the spider— wrought in all black on a start, white background. The painting is a sort of photo negative of the actual sculpture— it is sharp and shambling, one is naturally taken to feel dreadful when looking at it. Moreover, the entire form is poised, either to scamper toward or away or, even more intensely, to jump at you. Gilberti avoids any real art deconstruction, save to say she “wasn’t sorry,” that she felt “safe under the spider,” and earlier works, such as twirling spirals that Louise drew, “told stories of her mother, winding wool for the tapestries she repaired.” What you receive off the edges of the page are these ideas of repair rather than paralyzing dread, and of domestic warmth rather than trapping. Gilberti doesn’t have too— Bourgeois “had always loved spiders,” and the feminist implications of the work speaks for itself.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Louise loved spiders, they reminded her of her mother who was a weaver. Sometimes she helped her mother repair tapestries. After her mother passed away, Louise studies mathematics at University, but soon changed to art school and moved to New York, where she became a sculptor. But she also loved to draw, especially spirals. Then at age 89 she created a giant spider out of metal and marble.

I love this series so much! I look forward to each new installment - I believe there's 5 now. Gilberti's illustrations are original and fun, and give a great idea of what Bourgeois' art is like. Readers will want to jump on the internet and look her up. There's a great photograph at the end of the giant spider sculpture - I hope to see one in person someday. While I have a set of these in my biographies, I'm getting another to shelve with the art books. Louise Bourgeois is French.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and weird little book about Louise Bourgeois and the art she made. Bourgeois quite enjoyed spiders--so much, that in her adult years, she created a huge sculpture of one. This spider is pictured in the back, thank goodness, because I was about to go down a Google rabbit hole!

This book was minimalist illustrations, making great use of white, red, and black. The biography itself was also minimalist, listing facts about Bourgeois' life in a chronological, but not necessarily story-like manner. Still, it was great to read about someone I hadn't heard of!

[Noëmie N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retour sur la vie de Louise Bourgeois. Livre acheté lors de l'exposition au Gropius Bau.

Petite, elle n'avait pas peur des araignées et elle aimait beaucoup apprendre.
Lorsqu'elle est devenue une artiste, elle a voulu représenter sa famille restée en France, qui lui manquait suite à son mariage et à son déménagement à NYC.

Les araignées lui rappellent sa mère, qui était couturière. C'est pour cela qu'elle a appelé la grosse structure d'araignée de 1999 "Maman". Cette structure la rassure car elle lui rappelle sa mère.

[Kayla Fleshman]

I liked this book because it shed light on an artist I had never heard of before. While describing her life, the author goes into detail about how Louise was able to overcome her hardships through the self-expression of art. While this may seem like a creepy book because it is full of spiders and dark images, it tells a wonderful story of how art and writing can help people express themselves and how they cope with their personal hardships.

[alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adored this children's book bio on Louise Bourgeois that I read in the Mori Arts gift shop because it was too expensive to come home with me. Whimsical but reflective of a lot of what was presented there for her retrospective in regards to her early life, motivation for making, and repeated themes (age appropriate ones). Maman is my favorite, and it's so fun to see those pieces recreated in a picture book.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spiders!

[Imants Gliemezis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very touching story of a lifetime of art and of course a mother who always lived in Louise's heart.

[Jaime M · Rating 5 out of 5]

My child really enjoys reading this book and because we get to see Maman often here in Ottawa, it just makes sense to him.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, interesting view into the world of this artist.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her art was based on happy childhood memories, even though it might not have appeared that way.

[Robin Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

God I love these books.

“She wove all her memories into art!”

[chiara · Rating 4 out of 5]

lettura leggerissima e devo ammettere un target infantile, ma io sono una adulta e mi ha divertito molto

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un album documentaire accessible dès 4 ans pour découvrir l'œuvre parfois déroutante d'une grande artiste du 20ème siècle.
Un graphisme minimaliste en 3 couleurs percutant met très bien en valeur les œuvres et l'artiste présentées. Une page biographique en fin d'ouvrage complète le récit.
À mettre entre toutes les mains !