Louise Bourgeois Destruction of the Father / Reconstruction of the Father: Writings and Interviews, 1923-1997 - Softcover

Bourgeois, Louise; Obrist, Hans-Ulrich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262522462 ISBN 13: 9780262522465

Publisher: Mit Pr, 1998

Synopsis

edited by Marie-Laure Bernadac and Hans-Ulrich Obrist"Everyday you have to abandon your past or accept it and then if youcannot accept it, you become a sculptor."Since the age of twelve, the internationally renowned sculptor LouiseBourgeois has been writing and drawing ;first a diary preciselyrecounting the everyday events of her family life, then notes andreflections. Destruction of the Father ;the title comes fromthe name of a sculpture she did following the death of her husband in1973 ;contains both formal texts and what the artist calls"pen-thoughts": drawing-texts often connected to her drawings andsculptures, with stories or poems inscribed alongside the images.Writing is a means of expression that has gained increasing importancefor Bourgeois, particularly during periods of insomnia. The writing iscompulsive, but it can also be perfectly controlled, informed by herintellectual background, knowledge of art history, and sense ofliterary form (she has frequently published articles on artists,exhibitions, and art events). Bourgeois, a private woman "withoutsecrets," has given numerous interviews to journalists, artists, andwriters, expressing her views on her oeuvre, revealing its hiddenmeanings, and relating the connection of certain works to the traumasof her childhood. This book collects both her writings and her spokenremarks on art, confirming the deep links between her work and herbiography and offering new insights into her creative process.

About this title

About the Author

Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Swiss-born curator and writer. He is the co-director of exhibitions and programs and the co-director of international projects at the Serpentine Galleries, London. His previous books include "A Brief History of Curating";" "A" Brief History of New Music";" Everything You Always Wanted to Ask About Curating But Were Afraid to Ask";" Sharp Tongues, Loose Lips, Open Eyes, Ears to the Ground;" "Ai Weiwei Speaks", " "and nearly thirty volumes of his Conversation Series of interviews with contemporary artists.

From Library Journal

This collection of writings and statements by sculptor Bourgeois includes letters, journal entries, poetry, and interviews with the artist spanning the entire period from her student days to just last year. The impression created is one of lifelong preoccupation with a set of personal concerns that, as curator Bernadac says in the introduction, reflect "the fundamental dichotomy between professional control and spontaneity, between the conscious and the unconscious, between the expression that is structured, assembled, and thought through, and the expression that is presented raw, as the product of an urgent impulse." Readers not already familiar with Bourgeois's work will appreciate the small photographs of sculptures, drawings, and prints included. Recommended for scholarly and specialized collections.?Kathryn Wekselman, Univ. of Cincinnati Lib.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0262522462
• ISBN 13: 9780262522465
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Bernadac Marie-Laure