Louise Bourgeois À l`infini

Press Release
Louise Bourgeois
À l’infini
September 3, 2011 – January 8, 2012
Louise Bourgeois (25.12.1911 – 31.5.2010) was one of the most important and influential
artists of our time. In celebration of what would have been her 100th birthday, the Fondation
Beyeler places Bourgeois in dialogue with the permanent collection, particularly artists with
whom she had a special relationship, such as Paul Cézanne, Francis Bacon and Alberto
Giacometti.
The exhibition, including sculptures and drawings as well as the famous Cell, Passage
Dangereux, reveals that while Bourgeois stands apart with a very singular artistic vision, her
body of work can be tied to the themes of the great art of the 20th century.
As an exhibition highlight, we are presenting the both threatening and fascinating monumenttal sculpture of a spider, titled Maman (1999, bronze, 927.1 x 891.5 x 1023.6 cm), a key work
for the understanding of her art. After a tour through the cities of Bern, Zurich and Geneva,
Maman will be on view for the duration of the exhibition in Berower Park of the Fondation
Beyeler in Riehen / Basel.
The exhibition was conceived together with Louise Bourgeois (d. May 31, 2010) and curated
by Ulf Küster, curator at the Fondation Beyeler, in cooperation with the Louise Bourgeois
Studio, New York.
In October 2011 a book on the exhibition by Ulf Küster, Louise Bourgeois, will be published
in the series Kunst zum Lesen by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern. German and English
edition, 144 pp., c. 21 illus., 15 in color, CHF 24.90, ISBN 978-3-7757-3227-7.
Press images accessible at http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch
Contact / Press
Catherine Schott, Tel. + 41 (0)61 645 97 21, Fax. + 41 (0)61 645 97 39, presse@fondationbeyeler.ch
Fondation Beyeler opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm daily, Wednesdays to 8 pm
Press Release
Louise Bourgeois
À l’infini
September 3, 2011 – January 8, 2012
To mark her 100th birthday, the Fondation Beyeler is devoting an homage to Louise Bourgeois
(25.12.1911 – 31.5.2010), one of the most significant and influential artist personalities of our
times. Comprising about 20 exhibits, some of them multipartite, the exhibition will represent a
concentrated selection from the artist’s oeuvre and address its key themes: an involvement with
other artists, a concern with her own biography, and the translation of emotions into objects of art.
In addition to works and series of works from renowned international museums and private
collections, more recent, previously unexhibited works – including the late cycle À l’infini (2008) –
will be on view. These will be supplemented by groups of pieces from the Beyeler Collection.
Especially revealing insights will be provided by juxtapositions with paintings by Fernand Léger and
Francis Bacon, and sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. These artists, with whom Bourgeois had a
special relationship, were influential and inspiring for her.
Our homage to Louise Bourgeois focuses on her amazing ability to cast a spell over the viewer
with her art’s poetic moods, trains of association, and unique manner of visual narration. For a long
period she negated the opposition, so central to modern art, between figuration and abstraction,
and enriched contemporary art with a highly personal brand of objective meaning. This holds
especially for the legendary Cells, two examples of which will be on view, including the largest in
scale, Passage dangereux (1997).
Born in Paris, Bourgeois united several epochs in her personality and biography: that of the proud
and sensitive Parisian bourgeoisie, which gradually declines in the course of the first half of the
20th century and, for her, was embodied in the problematic figure of her father; her experience of
Parisian modernism as an art student; the shift of the art scene from Paris to New York, in which
she was materially involved after her move there in 1938; and finally, the inward and outward
turmoil in the U.S. of the day, including the great movement for equal rights to which she decisively
contributed.
All of these lines of development and diverse experiences combined to shape her personality. This
is the sense in which the key work in the exhibition, À l’infini, should be understood – fourteen
etchings each of which features two converging lines. The basic form of this impressive and
moving work derives from the type of cloth that consists of at least two threads and can be infinitely
reproduced and varied. Seen in this light, history, too, might be understood as a tissue spun from
threads of memory. The symbol Bourgeois found for spinning filaments and eternal renewal was
the spider, which she associated with her mother.
As an exhibition highlight, we are presenting the both threatening and fascinating monumental
sculpture of a spider, titled Maman (1999, bronze, 927.1 x 891.5 x 1023.6 cm.), a key work
for the understanding of her art. After a tour through the cities of Bern, Zurich and Geneva, Maman
will be on view for the duration of the exhibition in Berower Park of the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen
/ Basel.
The exhibition was conceived together with Louise Bourgeois (d. May 31, 2010) and curated by Ulf
Küster, curator at the Fondation Beyeler, in cooperation with the Louise Bourgeois Studio, New
York.
In October 2011 a book on the exhibition by Ulf Küster, Louise Bourgeois, will be published in the
series Kunst zum Lesen by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern. German and English edition, 144 pp.,
c. 21 illus., 15 in color, CHF 24.90, ISBN 978-3-7757-3227-7.
Press images accessible at http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch
Contact / Press
Catherine Schott, Tel. + 41 (0)61 645 97 21, Fax. + 41 (0)61 645 97 39, presse@fondationbeyeler.ch
Fondation Beyeler opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm daily, Wednesdays to 8 pm
Louise Bourgeois À l’infini
September 3, 2011 to January 8, 2012
01 Louise Bourgeois
Portrait
Photo: Jeremy Pollard
02 Louise Bourgeois
Photomontage: Exterior view of Fondation Beyeler,
Riehen / Basel with Maman, 1999
Bronze with silver nitrate patina, stainless steel and marble,
927.1 x 891.5 x 1023.6 cm
Collection The Easton Foundation, courtesy Hauser & Wirth
and Cheim & Read
© The Easton Foundation / 2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
03 Louise Bourgeois
Passage dangereux (detail), 1997
Mixed media,
264 x 355.6 x 876.3 cm
Private Collection, Switzerland
Photo: Stefan Altenburger
Photography Zürich
© Louise Bourgeois Trust /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
04 Louise Bourgeois
The Waiting Hours (detail), 2007
12 fabric works,
each 38.4 x 31.1 cm
Private Collection, courtesy Cheim
& Read and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Christopher Burke
© Louise Bourgeois Trust /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
05 Alberto Giacometti
L’homme qui marche II, 1960
Walking Man II
Bronze, 189 x 26 x 110 cm
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen / Basel
Photo: Robert Bayer, Basel
© Succession Giacometti /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
06 Louise Bourgeois
À l‘infini (detail), 2008
14 etching and mixed media drawings,
each 101 x 151.8 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchased with funds
provided by Agnes Gund, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis,
Marlene Hess and Jim Zirin, Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann,
Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, 2010, Photo: Ben Shiff
© Louise Bourgeois Trust / 2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
07 Louise Bourgeois
Red Fragmented Figure, 1953
Painted wood, wax, steel,
158.7 x 22.2 x 26.7 cm
Private Collection, Switzerland
Photo: Louise Bourgeois Archive
© Louise Bourgeois Trust /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
08 Fernand Léger
Contraste de formes, 1913
Contrast of Forms
Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen / Basel
Photo: Robert Bayer, Basel
© 2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
09 Louise Bourgeois
The Blind Leading the Blind, 1947–1949
Wood, painted red and black,
170.5 x 163.5 x 41.3 cm
Collection Louise Bourgeois Trust,
courtesy Cheim & Read and Hauser & Wirth
Photo: Christopher Burke
© Louise Bourgeois Trust /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
10 Barnett Newman
Uriel, 1955
Oil on canvas, 243.8 x 548.6 cm
Private Collection
Photo: Robert Bayer, Basel
© 2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
11 Louise Bourgeois
In Respite, 1993
Steel, thread and rubber,
328.9 x 81.2 x 71.1 cm
Galerie Karsten Greve AG,
St. Moritz
Photo: Frédéric Delpech
© Louise Bourgeois Trust /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
12 Francis Bacon
Lying figure, 1969
Oil on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen / Basel
Photo: Peter Schibli, Basel
© The Estate of Francis Bacon /
2011, ProLitteris, Zurich
Press images http://pressimages.fondationbeyeler.ch
This visual material may be used for press purposes only. Reproduction is permitted for the duration of the exhibition only. Please employ the
captions as given and the relevant copyrights. We kindly request you to forward us a voucher copy.
NOTE: The images have to be reduced to a maximum size of 230 x 230px with 72 dpi when published online.
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Fondation Beyeler
Biography
Louise Bourgeois (1911 – 2010)
1911
Louise is born on December 25 in Paris. Her parents Joséphine and Louis
Bourgeois run a gallery and restoration workshop for historical tapestries
1921– Louise attends the Lycée Fénelon in Paris. Her studies are Interrupted
1932 as Louise accompanies her sick mother for visits to Le Cannet. She recieves her
baccalaureate from the Sorbonne in philosophy.
1932
Louise’s mother dies.
1932– She pursues artistic training at various academies in Paris as well as under
1938 Fernand Léger, among others.
1938
Louise partitions off a section of her father’s tapestry gallery to sell illustrated books,
prints, and paintings. She meets Robert Goldwater in her shop. They marry in Paris and
move to New York.
1939
They adopt the orphan Michel.
1940
Their son Jean-Louis is born.
1941
Their son Alain is born.
1945– In New York, Bourgeois has two painting shows before her switch into sculpture.
1953 During this period she creates a series of wooden “personages.”
1951
Louise’s father dies, and she falls into a deep depression.
From After a hiatus of over ten years, Bourgeois begins to exhibit more frequently.
1964
1973
Her husband Robert Goldwater dies.
1982
A retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, brings wider public attention to
her work.
2007– A retrospective is shown in London (Tate Modern), Paris (Centre Pompidou), New York
2009 (Guggenheim Museum), Los Angeles (The Museum of Contemporary Art), and
Washington (Hirshhorn Museum).
2010
Louise Bourgeois dies on May 31 in New York at the age of 98.
Louise Bourgeois
»Art is the
acceptance
of solitude
You express your
solitude
by being
an artist
if you can
if you have it in
you.«
Citations
“All my work in the past fifty years, all my subjects have found their inspiration in my
childhood”
“My best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable,
dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat and useful as an araignée [French for “spider”] ”
“I came from a family of repairers. The spider is a repairer. If you bash into the web of a
spider, she doesn’t get mad. She weaves and repairs it.”
“In all my work there is the fear of abandonment and separation.”
“To be born an artist is both a privilege and a curse. How can it be taught? It is not possible
to become one, you can just accept or refuse the gift.”
“Life is made of experiences and emotions. The objects I have created make them tangible.”
“The subject of pain is the business I am in. To give meaning and shape to frustration and
suffering. What happens to my body has to be given a formal abstract shape. So you might
say, pain is the ransom of formalism.
… Each Cell deals with fear. Fear is pain. Often it is not perceived as pain, because it is
always disguising itself.
Each Cell deals with the pleasure of the voyeur, the thrill of looking and being looked at.”
“The unconscious is volcanic in tone and yet you cannot do anything about it. You had better
be its friend, or accept it, or love it if you can, because it might get the better of you. You
never know. ”
LOUISE BOURGEOIS
KUNS T ZUM LESEN SERIES
By Ulf Küster
English
144 pp., c. 21 ills., 15 in color,
12 x 19 cm, softcover
€ 16.80, CHF 24.90, $30.00, £15.99
ISBN 978-3-7757-3227-7
October 2011
| The life and work of the French-American sculptor in
our series Art to Read
Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) was born on December
25, 1911. This book, which is devoted to the central
themes of the late artist’s oeuvre, is being published
on the occasion of her one-hundredth birthday. It
examines her life, her exploration of the works of
other artists, and the transformation of her emotions
into works of art. Over the course of nine chapters,
characteristic works are presented in the context of
art history by comparing and contrasting them with
works from the Beyeler Collection. The book brings
home the fact that Bourgeois not only offset the important antagonism between the figurative and the
abstract in modernism, she also helped to provide a
unique interpretive level to modern art beyond that of
the purely visible. This publication is an introduction
to the life and work of a woman who was one of the
most important artists of her time.
(German edition ISBN 978-3-7757-3151-5)
Press copies:
Caroline Schilling
c.schilling@hatjecantz.de
www.hatjecantz.de
www.hatjecantz.com
Louise Bourgeois
À’ l’infini
Photo: Mirjam Baitsch
Photo: Mark Niedermann
Photo: Alberto Venzago
Photo: Mark Niedermann
Photo: Alberto Venzago
The exhibition Louise Bourgeois – À’ l’infini and the Maman project were enabled by
generous support from JTI
In the context of its cultural engagement, JTI supports projects worldwide, focusing on contemporary
art. In addition, JTI and the JTI Foundation facilitate programs in the fields of the environment, disaster
aid, and social welfare. JTI is a leading international tobacco product manufacturer which operates in
120 countries and has headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, where it employs 700 people.
Louise Bourgeois’s sculpture “Maman” on tour
Bern, Bundesplatz, May 24 – June 7, 2011
Zurich, Bürkliplatz, June 10 – July 28, 2011
Geneva, Place de Neuve, August 3 – August 28, 2011
Berower Park at the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel, September 3, 2011 – January 8, 2012.
All photos: Louise Bourgeois, Maman, 1999; Collection The Easton Foundation, courtesy Hauser & Wirth und Cheim & Read;
Photo: © Louise Bourgeois Trust / 2011, ProLitteris, Zürich
Partners of Fondation Beyeler
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We thank Basler Versicherungen for their kind support.
FONDATION BEYELER