Louise Bourgeois: The Secret of the Cell - Hardcover

Crone, Rainer; Schaesberg, Petrus

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3791316109 ISBN 13: 9783791316109

Publisher: Prestel, 1998

Synopsis

This book, authorized by Louise Bourgeois herself, concentrates on her latest work but also documents the life and art of this exceptional woman. Born in Paris in 1911, she moved in 1939 to New York, where she still lives and works. Without exaggerating, Louise Bourgeois can be described as the most important and influential sculptress of this century. "Louise Bourgeois: The Secret of the Cells" is the first publication to present an introduction to the stylistic diversity and scope of Bourgeois' work within the context of 20th-century sculpture. This volume focuses on her installations, which she calls "cells". For the first time, all 27 cells - a cycle which Bourgeois has now declared complete - are depicted in both full-page and detailed illustrations, as well as being catalogued according to their component parts. The comprehensive narrative on Louise Bourgeois' fascinating life - the most detailed and extensive to date - is documented in over 100 photographs from the artist's own archive, many of which have never been published before. These range from her youth in Paris, her student years at the art academy under Ferdinand Leger, and her experiences with the leading artists of the New York School in the 40s and 50s, up to her famous performance, "The Confrontation", in 1978. In 1982 the Museum of Modern Art honoured Bourgeois in a grand retrospective of her work; in 1992 her installation "Precious Liquids" caused an international sensation at documenta IX. Her radical re-evaluation of the medium of sculpture, particularly evident in her unusual and unparalleled work of the last 10 years, calls for a thorough review of art in modern times.

About this title

Review

Louise Bourgeois, The Secret of the Cells is both a catalogue of works and a biography of the famous Parisian-born artist. Born in 1911, the now octagenarian Bourgeois has shown widely throughout the world and to great critical acclaim especially within the 1990s. Bourgeois's personal history is vastly important in the content of her work. This book takes readers on a journey from her affluent childhood in France, including family photographs, to her schooling under painter Fernand Leger, to her eventual marriage and move to the United States where she continued her long and varied career working primarily as a sculptor and installation artist.

Bourgeois's abstract figurative sculptures range in materials; from plaster, marble, bronze to the more untraditional; latex, glass, thread, etc. Regardless of the medium, the work is imbued with a strong physicality that echoes the forms of the human body. Included in the book are discussions of Bourgeois's work in relation to other artists and movements, i.e. Rodin, Brancusi and primitivism. Bourgeois has been an inspiration and an influence to an entire generation of artists, not just because of her long and illustrious career but because her work has pushed so many boundaries. Louise Bourgeois, The Secret of the Cells is an informative and beautiful book with 77 colour and 176 black-and-white images. --Jennifer Cohen

About the Author

RAINER CRONE has held positions in the art history departments of Columbia University in New York City and the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. He has published numerous books on twentieth century art and artists. PETRUS GRAF SCHAESBERG was a German art historian, artist, editor, and teacher.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prestel
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3791316109
• ISBN 13: 9783791316109
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160