Louise Bourgeois Retrospective @ Hirshhorn
Louise Bourgeois, "Femme Maison," 1945-47, Private Collection. Photo: Eeva Inkeri
From her early paintings created in the 1940s to her larger cell sculptures created in the 1990s, Bourgeois' use of material is numerous and versatile. The show contains over 120 paintings, drawings and sculpture and showcases her work done in plaster, bronze, marble, wood, resin, latex and found objects. It is the exhibition's last stop on a five city tour and boasts a few works by Bourgeois that were not previously included.
While not an exhaustive collection of her work, nothing seems to be missing from this retrospective. All of Bourgeois' known works and themes are contained and given a thorough display to showcase her evolution as an artist. The retrospective also pays homage to the artist's tendency to revisit imagery and themes, as many symbols and motifs reoccur throughout her career.
Starting with her early works, titled Femme Maison, the exhibit introduces Bourgeois' musings on gender and the house as symbol. This series of paintings and drawings of women's bodies topped with houses for heads, were created in the mid- to late-1940s. Their interpretation plays to both sides of gender roles, either upholding the notion of women's domestic role at the time, or rallying against it. The theme of gender and the house as symbol are both reoccurring subjects that play out in her work.
One of her most striking and sometimes shocking series of sculptures that taunts gender lines is Fillette. Included in the exhibit is Fillette: Sweeter Version (1968-99), a hanging latex and plaster phallic piece. The sculpture teeters on realism with the base ending in two spheres that resemble testicles but could be seen as breasts, further blurring gender lines. These shapes are also found in other works such as Cumul I (1969) and Noire Veine (1968) evoking both sex and gender.
The Blind Leading the Blind (1947-49), is a sculpture from the Hirshhorn's permanent collection that is made of a series of thin wooden sticks, lined up in two rows. Its placement within the retrospective gives the sculpture context among its sculptural siblings. Comparisons can be made between this work and Bourgeois' other thin wooden sculptures called "Personages"; the similarities of her aesthetic can be readily seen in this body of work.
Another image that proliferates Bourgeois' art is that of the spider. At the entrance to the Museum is Crouching Spider (2003), a very large and ominous sculpture. This sinewy arachnid protects the museum and is daunting in both size and pose. For Bourgeois, the spider emerges as a maternal figure that protects, rather than the object of fear and loathing, in her work.
Detail of Louise Bourgeois' "Cell VIII," 1998. Courtesy Cheim & Read, Galerie Karsten Greve, and Galerie Hauser & Wirth.
In a rare treat, Cell (Twelve Oval Mirrors) (1998) was added to the tour for the Hirshhorn. This large piece takes up an entire room and is the only interactive work in the show. The sculpture contains 12 mirrors that are arranged in a circle. They are flat on one side and convex on the other. The mirrors can be turned so the different sides can be viewed, showing a "normal" view and a "distorted" view. On the inside of the circle are two chairs that face each other, while on the outside more chairs are arranged around the mirrors. This sculpture invites people to sit and is an amusing way to contemplate the others while being introspective.
In conjunction with the retrospective of Bourgeois' work, the Hirshhorn will host a series of lectures, gallery talks and films regarding Louise Bourgeois and her career. Tonight join art historian Donald Kuspit in the Ring Auditorium for his lecture titled "The Phallic Women Conflict and Fragmentation in Louise Bourgeois' Conception of the Female Body." 7 p.m. For a complete list of the series, visit the Hirshhorn's events calendar.
Louise Bourgeois opened today and runs through May 17 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The museum is located at the corner of Independence Ave at 7th St SW and is open daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.