The first room of the recently-opened "Louise Bourgeois" exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum showcases a golden, curved body dangling in mid-air, arms bent unnaturally towards the figure's angles. Both a highly detailed study of form and movement and a more personal expression of the sculptor's anxiety, the work, "Arch of Hysteria" sets the tone of the exhibit. Personal and vividly sculpted works give physicality to the artist's emotions, with each piece in the exhibit precisely displayed so as to allow the viewer to feel as though he is walking through the creative process.
Born in France, Bourgeois spent much of her adult life in New York after marrying an American art historian. Her work reflects this cultural confluence of art movements, with elements of European Surrealism and the Abstract Expressionism that came to dominate the New York art scene. Bourgeois, however, self-consciously refused to become a part of any particular movement. Each sculpture is singularly her own, as Bourgeois understood contemporary art influences with autobiographical creative impulses.
"The Blind Leading the Blind," one of the sculptor's most famous works, is a series of parallel, painted-red rungs that grow progressively. It looks like an abstract and barren version of a chain gang, like people holding on to the shoulders of those in front of them in order to know where they are going.
With clear linearity, the sculpture is a sparse and faceless metaphor of how people follow one another. The work, however, gains an even more complex resonance when considered within the context of Bourgeois' artistic path. The sculptor chose to leave behind the New York art world to pursue her own artistic vision, and this work reflects her self-consciousness. She seems to be weighing the supportive framework she left behind, as soulless and hollow as she imagined it to be, against her hard-won creative liberty.
The personal nature of Bourgeois' work is what makes it so distinctly powerful. She doesn't separate her art from her self-questioning, choosing instead to create from her doubts. Amid the bold physicality of her work, there are always elements of fragility, seen even from the beginning of the exhibit in the precarious thread from which "Arch of Hysteria" hangs to the ceiling.
Carefully curated, the exhibit lends tangibility to the artist's creative process. Bourgeois began as a painter, becoming a sculptor only later in her life. Her work uses depth and motion to explore her own psychosis and emotions, as though the distinct physicality of sculpture gave Bourgeois the language she needed to express her internal dialogue. The exhibit moves organically, with smaller sculptures clustered together as if in commentary with one another. As a result, the exhibit gives an implicit sense of the process of Bourgeois' art making. You can feel how her art has evolved and, accordingly, how the artist has transformed.
Bourgeois created the last work in the exhibit, "Where My Motivation Comes From," in 2007, and it reflects the artist marveling at a life of creativity. Amid a sparse background lay the words, "It is not so much where my motivation comes from, but rather how it manages to survive." Her work is intimate and organic because the artist seems to understand herself as she creates.
The exhibit will be on view at the Hirshhorn until May 17.
You can reach this staff writer at agoldstein@theeagleonline.com.
