Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)
Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)

Female Portrait

细节
Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010)
Female Portrait
signed 'Louise Bourgeois' (lower edge)
bronze with black patina
sculpture: 15½ x 13 x 11 in. (39.3 x 33 x 27.9 cm.)
base: 48¼ x 14 x 14 in. (122.5 x 35.5 x 35.5 cm.)
Executed in 1962-1982. This work is one of four unique variants.
来源
Robert Miller Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner
出版
R. Crone and P. G. Schaesberg, Louise Bourgeois: The Secret of the Cells, Munich, 1998, p. 59 (incorrectly dated 1962; illustrated in progress).
展览
New York, Robert Miller Gallery, Bourgeois Truth, November-December 1982 (illustrated in progress).
Philadelphia College of Art, Artists in the Historical Archives of the Women's Interart Center of New York City, February-March 1983.
Los Angeles, Daniel Weinberg, Louise Bourgeois, November-December 1984.
Cincinnati, The Taft Museum; Miami, The Art Museum at Florida International University; Austin, Laguna Gloria Art Museum; St. Louis, Gallery of Art, Washington University and Syracuse, Everson Museum of Art, Louise Bourgeois, May 1987-November 1989, n.p. (illustrated).
Seattle, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Louise Bourgeois: Works from 1943-1987, November 1988-January 1989.
Santa Monica, Linda Cathcart Gallery, Louise Bourgeois: Bronze Sculpture and Drawings, February-March 1990.
The Brooklyn Museum, Louise Bourgeois: The Locus of Memory, April-July 1994, p. 86 (illustrated in black and white).

荣誉呈献

Jonathan Laib
Jonathan Laib

拍品专文

Throughout her artistic career, Louis Bourgeois has intrinsically linked herself with her art, saying "for me, sculpture is the body. My body is my sculpture" (Louise Bourgeois, quoted in C. Meyer-Thoss, "Self-Expression is Scared and Fatal: Statements," Louise Bourgeois: Designing for Free Fall, Zurich, 1992, 195). In this way, Bourgeois' own identity in imbedded into her sculpture, and each new piece she creates acts as a vehicle to externalize something extremely personal. Bourgeois' Female Portrait represents a synthesis of her strong understanding and adaptation of European and American artistic tendencies, while stamping it with her indelible mark.
The elaborate manipulation of her material creates an intricate and intimate bronze cast, creating an appealing and thoughtful abstract rendering of the female figure. The autobiographical nature of much of her work leads one to view her pieces in terms of her personality and own life, and Female Portrait is no exception. This image of a woman as mother reveals the conflicting emotions about motherhood as the dominant female figure protects her young as represented by the entangled limbs of her beloved, which also could be interpreted as ties that bind her and render her captive. Just as with her larger body of work, this example is an exploration into the female body and self, and can be seen as a vital forerunner for women artists inquiring into similar themes throughout subsequent decades. Although Bourgeois' tendency was to work with traditional mediums, her artistic intent and wry sense of humor subtly touches on concepts of gender, and sexuality, often poking fun at the masculine gesture of the American Abstract Expressionists in its own, quietly subversive way. By pushing the boundaries of a what the expectations of female artists, Bourgeois broke through numerous barriers through which other female artists could follow.