Louise Bourgeois

Constructed as an A-to-Z glossary of Louise Bourgeois's life, work, philosophies, and insights, this comprehensive publication moves the reader from Maman to Mapplethorpe, primitivism to prostitution, and Sadie to surrealism, in a thought-provoking tapestry of essays, words, and images reflecting the artist's prolific and engrossing body of work. From body (part) to Brueghel, this catalogue for a major retrospective of the artist's work is filled with provocative statements from the archives of Bourgeois. Included are quotations from her diary, interviews, poems, notes from psychoanalysis sessions, and many unpublished writings. Bourgeois's words are accompanied by essays from contributing authors including Robert Storr, Lucy Lippard, Donald Kuspit, and Mariner Warner. The catalogue is fully illustrated with works extending from Bourgeois's early iconic sculptures, drawings, prints, and personal photographs, to recent installations. Also included are a chronology of the artist's life through 2007 and a list of the works exhibited, which travel from the Tate Modern to conclude at the Hirshhorn Museum in 2009. This publication fully celebrates the unsettling and always compelling work of a landmark artist. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers. K. C. Lonbom Illinois State University

One contributor to this retrospective asks: "How is it that an artist whose career spans some seventy years continues to appear vital and contemporary...?" Bourgeois's work, sometimes abstract and sometimes not, is sculpture or installation, may be sewn out of fabric or carved out of wood, and is ever intimate, feminist, eccentric and interesting. The difficulty of memorializing the work of such an extraordinary living artist is handled through a "glossary" of terms, a neat trick that puts "Etching" next to "Existentialism" and "Materials" next to "Maternity." This treatment pairs shorter and longer essays by art critics with excerpts from Bourgeois's diaries and interviews, providing a deep and textured sense of the artist's biography. Personally and creatively, Bourgeois was deeply affected by her mother's tolerance of her father's affair with the daughter's own tutor. Bourgeois's work doesn't follow any clear trajectory, so the episodic nature of this presentation displays her work appropriately. It can be difficult to connect a piece of text to the hundreds of reproductions of the artist's work (many in full spreads), but the overall impression is very effective--a suitable presentation for this intriguing and multifaceted artist. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved