Louise Bourgeois (1911 – 2010) is recognized as one of the most important and influential artists of our time. Inviting the viewer into Bourgeois’s private world, this exhibition forms a collection of highly personal memories and ideas that in turn reflect the complexity and intimacy of her practice. The works presented span the breadth of the artist’s internationally celebrated oeuvre, from a rarely exhibited early wall relief and selection of plaster sculptures to previously unshown paintings, drawings and multi-layered works on paper. Most of the etchings, enhanced by hand in watercolour and gouache, were made during the last four years of Bourgeois’s life and often feature words or phrases which evoke associations and memories of people and places she had known. The interaction of image and text crystallizes the interplay of past and present. An elegiac note prevails, an awareness of life’s brevity and fragility.
