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Lot Essay
"Now even though the shapes are abstract, they represent people. They are delicate as relationships are delicate"
(Louise Bourgeois as quoted in C. Meyer-Thoss, Louise Bourgeois, Zurich, 1992, p. 179).
The tension within Louise Bourgeois' Figure is substantial. It is dually a tribute to perseverance and a troubling object of turmoil. Bourgeois' sculpture incorporates gestures that are part of art throughout history while remaining specific to Bourgeois' personal history. Whether the figure is bound and being forced into submission, or breaking free from a burden are ideas worth contemplating. The violence perceived within untitled can also be found in Willem de Kooning's painted and sculpted Women; an interesting visual link as their backgrounds could not be more different yet their forms so similar at various points.
Figure was originally conceived in 1960, a time when the artist's childhood experiences were at the forefront of her imagination. Many of her images though abstract were to be read as signs or symbols of female figures exemplifying the functions and rigors of motherhood. Though her rail thin totems or more cumbersome visions could not be more visually diverse they both attempt and often succeed in expressing the universal condition of motherhood in all of its psychological and physical realities.
Figure's lack of a distinct face and undefined appendages, are only a few of the distinct likenesses between The Venus of Willendorf and the present work. Each form is a masterful expression of humanity and has an intrinsic value that exists apart from the artist's or culture that created each work. Bourgeois is able to sublimate content and emotion in a formal way that produces a work that can be universally interpreted, a unique talent that cannot be forged and can only be achieved through an intensity of feeling and seeking.
Venus of Willendorf, statuette made of limestone, made about 25.000 BC. Photography by Gerhard Trumler, 1990. (c) Photo by Imagno/Getty Images.
(Louise Bourgeois as quoted in C. Meyer-Thoss, Louise Bourgeois, Zurich, 1992, p. 179).
The tension within Louise Bourgeois' Figure is substantial. It is dually a tribute to perseverance and a troubling object of turmoil. Bourgeois' sculpture incorporates gestures that are part of art throughout history while remaining specific to Bourgeois' personal history. Whether the figure is bound and being forced into submission, or breaking free from a burden are ideas worth contemplating. The violence perceived within untitled can also be found in Willem de Kooning's painted and sculpted Women; an interesting visual link as their backgrounds could not be more different yet their forms so similar at various points.
Figure was originally conceived in 1960, a time when the artist's childhood experiences were at the forefront of her imagination. Many of her images though abstract were to be read as signs or symbols of female figures exemplifying the functions and rigors of motherhood. Though her rail thin totems or more cumbersome visions could not be more visually diverse they both attempt and often succeed in expressing the universal condition of motherhood in all of its psychological and physical realities.
Figure's lack of a distinct face and undefined appendages, are only a few of the distinct likenesses between The Venus of Willendorf and the present work. Each form is a masterful expression of humanity and has an intrinsic value that exists apart from the artist's or culture that created each work. Bourgeois is able to sublimate content and emotion in a formal way that produces a work that can be universally interpreted, a unique talent that cannot be forged and can only be achieved through an intensity of feeling and seeking.
Venus of Willendorf, statuette made of limestone, made about 25.000 BC. Photography by Gerhard Trumler, 1990. (c) Photo by Imagno/Getty Images.