Arts Activity for 7th Grade:

The Modern Sculptures of Louise

Bourgeois

Monday, September 4th, 2023

 BIOGRAPHY

• Louise Bourgeois was a French-American sculptor born in Paris, France on December

25th, 1911, but she was also a prolific painter and printmaker.
• Her familiar background was very troublesome, especially because her father, Louis
Bourgeois, was an arrogant and authoritarian figure. When her mother, Joséphine
Fauriaux, got ill, her father brought home a governess who was his lover. This situation
sowed an intense feeling of hatred and an impulse of destruction in Louise.
• In 1930, Lousie entered the Sorbone University to study Mathematics and Geometry,
subjects that made her feel calm, saying "I got peace of mind, only through the study of
rules nobody could change.“
• In 1932, Louise’s mother died, inspiring her to abandon the study of Mathematics and
started studying Arts.
 FIRST WORKS

• Original Title: Femme • Original Title: He

Maison (Woman-House, Disappeared into
feminity concepts) Complete Silence

• Museum: MoMA, Nueva • Museum: MoMA,

Nueva York (United
York (United States) States)
• Technique: Oil and Ink (91 • Technique: Engraving
x 36 cm.) (22,3 x 10,1 cm.)
FIRST WORKS

• Original Title: Fears

• Museum: Fabric Workshop and Museum
(FWM), Philadelphia (United States)
• Technique: Sculpture (66 x 63,5 x 76,2 cm.)
SPIDERS

• Original Title: Mother

(Maman)
• Museum: Guggenheim,
Bilbao (Spain)
• Technique: Bronze, stainless
Steel and marble
sculpture (927 x 891 x 1023
cm.)
 SPIDERS

The enormous sculpture represents his

mother, who died when the artist was
21 years old. As a result of her loss,
Bourgeois decided to leave mathematics
behind and dedicate himself exclusively
to art.
For Bourgeois, this gigantic spider was
the perfect representation of his mother.
Despite its terrifying appearance, a
spider is thoughtful, intelligent, patient,
delicate, subtle, and helpful. Just like she
saw her mother. “The spider is an ode
to my mother. She was my best friend.”
 SPIDERS

A spider is also an artist: it weaves. Not only that... If you tear a

spider's web, it weaves it again, restores it without altering
itself. Bourgeois' mother was also a weaver. The family had a
tapestry restoration business and once again, the sculptor was
inspired by her family experiences, her childhood and her life
to create her extraordinary work, full of honesty and poetry.

The sculpture even makes us feel protected under the

terrifying limbs of this monster.
 SPIDERS

Although since 1940 the theme of spiders has

been a recurring motif in the career of Louise
Bourgeois, especially through her drawings, it
was not until the 1990s when the artist
devoted greater prominence to these figures in
her works, coming to make 10 sculptures.
 CINEMA

B u r ge oi s ’ sc u l p ture s h ave al so
i n f l uenc e d c i n e m a, as we can se e
f ro m t h e m ov i e “E n e my” ( “ E l
H o m b re D u p l ic ad o ”, b ase d o n a
n ove l w i t h t h e sam e n am e w r i t te n
by José Saram ago) .
 ACTIVITY

In a Word file copy and answer the following questions:

1. What do you feel when you see Louise Bourgeois’ Spiders? Consider
any sensation, feeling, and emotion.
2. After reading this presentation explaining the sculptor’s point of view
of spiders, has your own perception of spiders changed? Explain your
answer.
3. Think about other 3 non-conventional animals that you can associate
to motherhood and explain why you establish that relationship.