Louise Bourgeois, Edinburgh

About

Louise Bourgeois is among the greatest artists of the twentieth century, renowned for her extraordinarily powerful expressions of personal trauma, abandonment and isolation. Highlighting her late work, this a first showing of an outstanding collection of works including 'Poids' (1993), 'Couple I' (1996) - a stuffed fabric work which Bourgeois made from her own blouses, socks and tights, 'Eyes' (2001–5), and 'Cell XIV (Portrait)' (2000), for which Bourgeois uses three heads of fabric sculpture to represent the multiple and contradictory aspects of a single individual. Among the highlights are two late masterpieces, the cycle of 14 monumental drawings 'A L’Infini' (2008–9) and the artist’s final vitrine, 'Untitled' (2010).

'Louise Bourgeois, A Woman Without Secrets' was organised in collaboration with Jerry Gorovoy of the Louise Bourgeois Studio and The Easton Foundation, which very generously lent a number of major sculptural works including 'Spiral Woman' (1984) and a giant 'Spider' (1994). The exhibition was further augmented through the loan of several key works from Tate’s collection, including 'Avenza' (1968–9), 'Cell (Eyes and Mirrors)' (1989–93) and a group of late works in red gouache, dating from 2007–9.

The exhibition was complemented by a major presentation of Louise Bourgeois' works on paper at the Fruitmarket Gallery. Edinburgh. Curated by Frances Morris, 'Louise Bourgeois: I Give Everything Away' presented the artist's 'Insomnia Drawings' (1994-95) alongside two sequences of much larger works on paper, 'When Did This Happen?' (2007) and 'I Give Everything Away' (2010).

'Future Bourgeois: A Symposium and Workshop for new work on Louise Bourgeois' was organised by the ARTIST ROOMS Research Partnership, The Fruitmarket Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland and took place on 7 February 2014. This one-day symposium workshop showcased new research on Bourgeois and related themes and ideas, including artists whose work flourished late in their lives, the appropriation of psychoanalytic ideas as the content of art, the critical fortunes of Bourgeois in relation to feminist, psychoanalytic and other art histories, and work on the technical and collaborative aspects of Bourgeois’s practice (casting, construction, printmaking etc). The ARTIST ROOMS Research Partnership is led by University of Edinburgh and directed by Prof Neil Cox, and is devoted to a programme of research encompassing consisting of three main strands: Art and its Histories, Learning and Engagement and Technical and Conservation Research.