Thursday 3 June 2010

Louise Bourgeois: 25 December 1911 – 31 May 2010

'Maman' by Louise Bourgeois
on the South Bank as part of her London retrospective in 2007.

Seeing that retrospective - twice - was very exciting. The fierce, astonishing, angry beauty of her work made me feel alive, as do my still sharp memories of it, even now, in this very moment, when I've been so tired and ill and discouraged recently, feeling honestly closer to dead than alive. There can't really be a greater tribute than that, can there?  In loving, awestruck memory.

3 comments:

Beth said...

Jean, these lions and lionesses like Bourgeois do seem to exist to inspire and encourage us, as well as for the sake of their own work. I'm sorry you've been feeling ill and discouraged and hope maybe that spider and its kin will inspire you to spin a new web of your own...thanks for this tribute and the photo. I stood there last year but didn't notice the view this way, just the sculpture!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, I didn't even realise she had died!

Sorry to hear you are down.

Planethalder

marja-leena said...

I have long desired to see Bourgeois' work such as that retrospective. Such a powerful artist to inspire others, especially women artists. As Beth said, thanks and hope you feel better soon, Jean.