Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait: Prints, Books, and the Creative Process

(Hardback)

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The first publication to fully survey Louise Bourgeois's printmaking, a major component of her artistic practice. Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait explores the prints, books and creative process of the celebrated sculptor Louise Bourgeois whose printed oeuvre, while lesser known than other aspects of her work, is vast in scope and comprises some 1,400 printed compositions. Over the course of her career, Bourgeois constantly revisited the themes and motifs of her art - all of which emerged from troubling emotions she struggled with for a lifetime. This investigation reveals the creative process underlying her artistic practice through evolving states for print compositions, as well as through the juxtaposition of works in different mediums and from different periods of her long career. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, the book features over 250 prints organized thematically and placed within the context of the artist's sculpture, drawings and paintings. The book also sheds light on the collaborative relationships between Bourgeois and her printmaking associates who often came to her home studio to work with her there - sometimes on a daily basis - pulling trial proofs from printing presses she kept in her basement. Interviews with Bourgeois's primary assistant, with whom she worked for decades, as well as with a printer and a publisher, each of whom helped foster her creative engagement with the medium, provide insight into her working process.

Reviews

...a rare archive of these works, which is highlighted at the exhibition along with special paintings on loan.-- "Blouin Art Info"
...explores the quirky sculptur's lesser-known printed oeuvre.-- "Manhattan Modern Luxury"
...opens a little-known dimension of the artist's practice: prints and books, shedding light on Bourgeois's creative process.-- "The Maker Magazine"
It places these mediums within the context of the artist's overall practice and sheds new light on her creative process.-- "Arts Summary"
At MoMA, a portrait of Louise Bourgeois as a young and old woman.--David Alm "Forbes"
Louise Bourgeois in a light we've never seen her before.--Angie Kordic "Widewalls"
Louise Bourgeois: imagination unfolds in all dimensions...follows Bourgeois in light circling rhythms as she revisits previous subjects, expanding upon them or transferring them into more substantial media.--Roberta Smith "The New York Times"
Louise Bourgeois's long career began and ended with printmaking; she launched her legacy with the medium and returned to it in the years before her death in 2010. While Bourgeois is widely associated with her monumental spider sculptures, a new MoMA retrospective gives due attention to the practice that marked both the genesis and the evolution of her formidable oeuvre.--Rachel Gould "The Culture Trip"
Revisiting Louise Bourgeois at MoMA...For seven decades, French sculptor Louise Bourgeois created art that often explored the female form, from sexuality to motherhood.--Rosanne Els "New York Magazine, The Cut"
Spiders, bodies, and the New York sky: the big and small genius of Louise Bourgeois...In 'Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait' at New York's Museum of Modern Art, a survey of the sculptor's works reveals the roots of her practice and her inner pain and joy.--Tim Teeman "The Daily Beast"
The striking feminist art of Louise Bourgeois - in pictures.--Jonathan Jones "The Guardian"
The Print Legacy of Louise Bourgeois Unfolds at MoMA...A new exhibition gathers some 300 works, including 265 prints, to show the increasingly central role printmaking played in Bourgeois's practice through the decades.--Benjamin Sutton "Hyperallergic"
What Louise Bourgeois's drawings reveal about her creative process.--Zachary Small "Artsy"

Author Bio

Deborah Wye is the Chief Curator Emerita of Prints and Illustrated Books at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Jerry Gorovoy is the president of The Easton Foundation, and was Bourgeois' long-time assistant. Felix Harlan, a printer in the New York-based workshop, Harlan & Weaver, collaborated with the artist from 1989 until the last year of her life. Benjamin Shiff is the director of Osiris, with whom Bourgeois published many important print projects.