Louise Bourgeois - Contemporary Art Part II New York Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private Collection

  • Literature

    M. Wachtmeiser, Louise Bourgeois: Maman, Bokforlaget Atlantis and Wanas Foundation, Stockholm 2007, p. 29 (another example illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    I would like to say only this: if name is destiny, Louise Bourgeois is an oxymoron. –Roni Horn
    Tell your own story, and you will be interesting. Don’t get the green disease of envy. Don’t be fooled by success and money. Don’t let anything come between you and your work. –Louise Bourgeois
    Paris-born artist Louise Bourgeois is known for her highly personal sculptures, which reflect on themes such as anxiety and solitude. Her body of work is largely autobiographical, with a particular focus on her childhood and the discovery of her father’s infidelity. The present lot is a small-scale marble replica of the artist’s country home in Easton, Connecticut, where she and her family took refuge during World War II. This house, purchased in 1941, served as a recurring theme in Bourgeois’ work over the course of her career.
    Bourgeois depicted the country house in multiple mediums, but arguably the most beautiful of these representations are the sculptures in marble, each of which is unique and completely handcrafted. Each representation varies only slightly; some have gently curved façades, as seen in the present lot, and varying numbers of windows and doors.
    The work’s gently sculpted edges and soft white coloration give it a serene, almost tender appearance. Bourgeois’ attachment to the house comes through in her sensitive rendering of its architecture, with its lack of perfect geometry and smooth curves. When examining the piece, it is possible to sense the artist’s emotional investment in the object of her work, creating a peaceful, intimate moment between viewer and sculpture.

  • Artist Biography

    Louise Bourgeois

    French-American • 1911 - 2010

    Known for her idiosyncratic style, Louise Bourgeois was a pioneering and iconic figure of twentieth and early twenty-first century art. Untied to an art historical movement, Bourgeois was a singular voice, both commanding and quiet.

    Bourgeois was a prolific printmaker, draftsman, sculptor and painter. She employed diverse materials including metal, fabric, wood, plaster, paper and paint in a range of scale — both monumental and intimate. She used recurring themes and subjects (animals, insects, architecture, the figure, text and abstraction) as form and metaphor to explore the fragility of relationships and the human body. Her artworks are meditations of emotional states: loneliness, jealousy, pride, anger, fear, love and longing.

    View More Works

262

House

1995

Marble.

3 7/8 x 12 3/4 x 3 1/2 in. (9.8 x 32.4 x 8.9 cm).
Inscribed “LB” into marble, below carved window on bottom right side. This work is unique and is accompanied by a photo certificate signed by the artist.

Estimate
$180,000 - 250,000 

Sold for $230,500

Contemporary Art Part II

9 November 2010
New York