Reflection: Louise Bourgeois - Woven Child

It's hard to summarize this reflection into one as her different pieces represent different periods in her life. Usage of fabrics are omnipresent in her pieces, no matter the period of time she made the piece, reflecting her and her family's background as seamstresses and dressmakers. It feels as if each piece of artwork with her personal clothing on it is a part of her on display, like a personal diary.

I really enjoyed her usage of different materials and their symbolisms. A lot of her pieces are constructed by clothing pieces from different stages of her life, for example: dresses and undergarments from her childhood and her mother in and untitled piece as well as her own cocktail dresses and blouse in "Cell XXV" etc. Coming from a dressmaking background, each piece of garment suddenly felt so personal to the artist, and it's like Bourgeois is leaving a part of herself in every piece she makes. She juxtaposes the softness of the garments with hard, solid materials, such as wooden doors, cattle bones, and cells. For me, this creates a lot of contrast in terms of texture, giving it a lot of visual interest. Also, the symbolism is apparent and well represented. The soft fabrics represent Bourgeois herself, or in some cases females in general, and they are usually accompanied by these solid objects in her compositions to show different emotions. The armatures represent different periods of time, while different fabrics hang off of different spools, they are still some how interconnected, and the artist questions the concept of reparation and reconnection. Her usage of cages is also very interesting. Bourgeois uses a lot of cages in her pieces to show emotions related to fear and anxiety. For example in one of my favourite pieces "Cell XXV", she puts three pieces of garments and marble spheres in a cell. At one angle, the marble balls may appear to represent breasts, but from another point of view, the marble balls combined with one lighter piece of garment show the shape of a penis at the centre of the cell. i really enjoyed her interpretation of distortion and showing it by allowing different images to be shown by walking around the cell.

Another one of my favourites is her piece "Spider". First of all, the great scale gave a lot of visual interest as it being so big gave this overwhelming, sort of towering effect that initially gave me a sense of fear and being overpowered. There were eggs present under the body of the spider, and inside the cage the giant bronze spider sits on, a tapestry-covered chair sits in the middle, and parts of the tapestry can also be found outside the lining of the cell. It was interesting how Bourgeois related the spider to her mother: A protector of her eggs, a weaver and restorer of tapestries. Coming from a family of seamstresses, Bourgeois often relates the act of weaving to her mother. Various of Bourgeois's personal objects can be found in the cell as well, relating to the theme of the recollection of lost time. I was very impressed by the piece not only for its scale and symbolism, but also for the way Bourgeois makes us relate by simply placing recollections of her life and personal experience into her piece. For my piece I may do something similar by finding personal objects that relate to my topic of body image and displaying them in my composition.

FMP - Research

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