Still Life, Louise Bourgeois. (Looking & Learning).About the Artist On Christmas Day, 1911, Louise Bourgeois  This article or section reads like a and may need a .Please help [ to improve this article] to make it in tone and meet Wikipedia's . was born on the Left Bank of Paris, where her parents ran a gallery dealing primarily in historical tapestries. Later, in 1919, when her parents moved to the suburb of Choisy-le-Roi and opened a tapestry restoration studio, it was ten-year-old Louise who was asked to redraw To redisplay an image on screen whether text or graphics. The concept is that the first time elements are displayed, they are "drawn," and if something is changed, they are "redrawn." Applications often have a Refresh command that redraws the screen. the worn away feet of figures woven into the old fabrics. Throughout her long career, Bourgeois has turned to the events of her life for inspiration and for the content of her work. Her mother was prone to illness and died when Louise was still young. The mistress of her abusive father became a surrogate mother surrogate mother, a woman who agrees, usually by contract and for a fee, to bear a child for a couple who are childless because the wife is infertile or physically incapable of carrying a developing fetus. to Louise and her siblings, Henriette and Pierre. Her grandfather and grandmother were sources of support and consolation. She states that her father wanted her to marry, be a good wife, and have children. She did all that, and much more, attending the Sorbonne and numerous art schools in Paris before moving to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and marrying Robert Goldwater Robert Goldwater (1907-1973) was an art historian, African arts scholar and the first director of the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, from 1957 to 1973. Goldwater received his BA in 1929 from Columbia University, and his MA from Harvard in 1931. , an American art American art, the art of the North American colonies and of the United States. There are separate articles on American architecture, North American Native art, pre-Columbian art and architecture, Mexican art and architecture, Spanish colonial art and architecture, historian. Louise Bourgeois works with various media: wood, plaster, bronze, glass, drawing materials, and more. She creats discrete objects, room-size installations, and large-scale works for public spaces. She makes significant pieces that exhibit a very personal beauty. She worked continuously, albeit in some obscurity, until the 1980s when a major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art brought her to the attention of a wider audience. She still lives and works in New York City. Still Life in Art Bourgeois created only a few known still lifes. In simple terms, a still life is an arrangement of objects selected and rendered by an artist to encourage close observation and contemplation by viewers. Still lifes may be laden with symbolic meaning or may draw attention to their aesthetic character. One finds still life in ancient Pompeian frescoes, but it was not a subject actively pursued by artists until after the Renaissance. Even then, it was not considered as important as history painting or portraiture. Dutch artists This is a list of Dutch artists.
About this Work Made of wood and plaster, Bourgeois's Still Life is painted predominantly white with a few discrete areas in black. (In the photograph presented here, only one rounded black shape is visible within the container, but in reality there are two other ambiguous objects with some surfaces painted black.) William S. Rubin called the work easily readable and quasi-naturalistic. The dominant container shape looks as if it might be a boat, an ark, or a deep dish This article is about the band. For the food, see Chicago-style pizza. Deep Dish is a duo of DJ and house music producers consisting of Iranian American members Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi. containing smaller rounded forms. The container rests upon a support structure. There are very few straight edges, and while the forms have soft curves, the surfaces tend to be unfinished and unsmooth. Familiarity with Bourgeois' other work might lead the viewer to read these forms as female body parts. The abstraction of the body is a signature feature of her art. As early as the 1940s, she completed a series of paintings called Femme-Maison. This interest recurred in sculptural form well into the 1980s. In her earlier pieces she depicted women in surreal domestic situations. One recurring image of the Femme-Maison series is a female figure carrying a house on her shoulders: the home a woman creates for her family which becomes her burden, punishment, and prison. In later years, Bourgeois pursued some of the stylistic concerns of Biomorphic Surrealism. Biomorphic surrealism takes shapes and forms from nature, abstracts them, and encourages viewers to look into their own subconscious for meaning. Note the mounded forms that one author has discussed as possibly being loaves of bread. Whether this still life is an arrangement of female forms, breads, or a boat and its cargo is up to the viewer's interpretation. Regardless of the specific reference, Still Life resonates with a sense of fecundity fecundity /fe·cun·di·ty/ (fe-kun´dit-e) 1. in demography, the physiological ability to reproduce, as opposed to fertility. 2. ability to produce offspring rapidly and in large numbers. and abundance. Questions and Discussion * What are some of the reasons still life is a subject used more by painters than sculptors? * Find and present other examples of still-life sculptures. * How/why do artists choose objects to depict in their still lifes? * Discuss with students what various still-life forms might represent. Be sure to have them name the visual clues behind their reasoning. Activities Elementary Discuss with students the concept of a still life. Show several examples of still-life images from various periods and cultures. Compare and contrast images. Ask children to bring in a collection of their favorite objects and discuss what they collected and why. Do the objects have special meaning for them? Do the objects tell about the students' identities? Do they tell a story about a specific event? Using the medium of collage, ask students to create a two-dimensional composition of their arranged objects. Ask students to write a poem relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc their artwork. Take photographs of the artwork and place each student's photograph and poem in a class book. Middle School Explore with students the idea that an artist's still-life arrangement may be interpreted in many ways. In Louise Bourgeois' Still Life, the neutral colors, organic forms, and wood-and-plaster materials suggest certain ideas. Ask students to think of what other materials might be used to create this sculpture? How would using other materials change the meaning of the piece? Ask students to place several objects on a table so that each object relates to (or touches) the next one. Using a neutral color scheme, ask students to create a three-dimensional still life using found materials such as wood, wire, plastic, Styrofoam, sponge, cardboard, etc. On completion of their still lifes, ask students to write brief statements about their pieces. High School Discuss the notion of ambiguity as it relates to the Bourgeois Still Life. How has the assortment of organic shapes been arranged to engage the viewer in a conversation about the meaning of the artwork? Assign students a research project comparing the Louise Bourgeois Still Life with works by Jasper Johns Noun 1. Jasper Johns - United States artist and proponent of pop art (born in 1930) Johns , Jose de Rivera, Barbara Hepworth Noun 1. Barbara Hepworth - British sculptor (1902-1975) Dame Barbara Hepworth, Hepworth , Louise Nevelson Noun 1. Louise Nevelson - United States sculptor (born in Russia) known for massive shapes of painted wood (1899-1988) Nevelson , and other artists who have produced three-dimensional still lifes. Divide students into small groups and ask them to place several objects together in a still-life arrangement that suggests a new form. Rotate the groups so that each is looking at another's arrangement. Ask students to write a short paragraph explaining what the group is trying to say through their arrangement of objects. Identity: Louise Bourgeois GalleryCard Louise Bourgeois, Cell (Hands and Mirror), 1995. Marble, painted metal & mirror, 63 x 48 x 45" (160 x 121.9 x 114.3 cm). Collection Barbara Lee Barbara Jean Lee (born July 16 1946), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1998, representing California's 9th congressional district (map) and is the first woman to represent that district. . Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Photo by Peter Bellamy. Louise Bourgeois, Chicago Sculpture Commission for Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 – May 21, 1935) was a founder of the U.S. Settlement House Movement and the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Park, 1993. Granite, 42 x 26 1/2 x 18" (106.7 x 67.3 x 45.7 cm). Collection The City of Chicago. Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York. Photo by Peter Bellamy. About the Art In Cell, the reflected image in the mirror of the marble hands with interlaced Refers to a display system or image that uses interlacing and does not render contiguous lines one after the other. See interlace and interlaced GIF. fingers is the view of the person whose hands they are. What you see when you look into the mirror is what you would see if you were looking at your own hands in that position. The hands and mirror are set within a cell of steel, glass, and mirrored walls. We might associate the hands with feelings of anxiety, alienation, solitude, or devotion, depending on whether we sense the cell as being either protective or restrictive. In the sculpture commissioned for Jane Addams Park in Chicago, the two pair of hands might be seen alternatively as a symbol of strength or vulnerability, of love, conflict, or struggle. Louise Bourgeois does not assign meaning to her pieces, rather, she wants viewers to make their own associations, perhaps to identify with the hands and to sense them as their own. About the Artist Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911. She studied at several schools in Paris before she emigrated to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. in 1938. Settling in New York, she continued her studies at the Art Students League. Her early works were drawings, engravings, and paintings, but by the 1940s she had turned to sculpture. Influenced by the Surrealist movement, her early sculptures were abstract and organic forms, often carved from wood. Eventually she expanded her use of materials to include rubber, bronze, and stone, and her pieces became larger. One of the dominant themes in her work has been her childhood conflicts with her father. Things to Consider The artist wants viewers to make connections between their own lives and the lives staged in her installations and public sculptures. Ask students to use their own hands to clarify what they see in these two works. Think of words like clutching, gripping, grabbing, wringing wring v. wrung , wring·ing, wrings v.tr. 1. To twist, squeeze, or compress, especially so as to extract liquid. Often used with out. 2. , clinging, praying, grasping when viewing these works. Ask students to consider the dual meanings of a cell--as a living organism and as a prison--when viewing Cell (Hands and Mirror). What connections can be made between the piece commissioned for Jane Addams Park and the life work and identity of Jane Addams? Identity: Kerry James Marshall Kerry James Marshall (October 17, 1955- ) is an artist born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles and now lives in Chicago and teaches at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. GalleryCard Kerry James Marshall, Our Town, 1995. Acrylic and collage on canvas, 100 x 144" (254 x 366 cm). Collection of the artist. Courtesy the artist. About the Art About the Garden Project series of which Our Town is a part, Kerry James Marshall says, "However we see housing projects, the realities of them are complex." In this painting, referencing public housing life, there are no abandoned cars, litter, or broken windows--things often associated with public housing. In this scene there are bluebirds, manicured lawns, trimmed bushes, well-kept trees, and colonial style homes. We see an apron clad mother, two kids with skin as black as ebony, and a dog. Parts of the painting are neatly crafted and carefully rendered. Other parts are obscured by collaged pieces of paper and dripping globs of paint. There are questions here. Who lives like this? Whose town is this? What is the significance of the yellow ribbons around the trees? With unsmiling faces and clenched clench tr.v. clenched, clench·ing, clench·es 1. To close tightly: clench one's teeth; clenched my fists in anger. 2. fists, do these children look like they are having fun? About the Artist African-American artist Kerry James Marshall was born in Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham (pronounced [ˈbɝmɪŋˌhæm]) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Jefferson County. in 1955. His early years were spent in a low-rise housing project. He remembers when he was five and in kindergarten. His teacher showed him a scrapbook A Macintosh disk file that holds frequently used text and graphics objects, such as a company letterhead. Contrast with "clipboard," which is reserved memory that holds data only for the current session. of art reproductions --postcards and pictures cut from magazines. He recalls the pictures as being magical, and he knew then that he wanted to paint. He has been painting since he was five. He grew up living in the Nickerson Gardens housing projects in the Watts section of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts The Bachelor of Fine Arts, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. Also named in some countries the Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA. degree from the Otis Art Institute. He was awarded an honorary doctorate there in 1999. He has lived in Chicago since 1987. Where he has lived has a lot to do with what he paints. The places of his upbringing often inform his art making. Things to Consider In what ways is this work about identity? Have students recall the lyrics of the song about tying "a yellow ribbon around the old oak tree" that was popular during the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. . Might the yellow ribbons signify hopefulness about "coming home?" Recall also the song lyrics about "bluebirds of happiness" and the way bluebirds often appear at joyful moments in Disney animations. References Bernadac, M. L. Louise Bourgeois. Paris, New York This article is about the New York town. For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation). Paris is a town in Oneida County, New York, USA. The population was 4,609 at the 2000 census. The town was named after an early benefactor, Colonel Isaac Paris. , NY: Abbeville Press, 1994. Kotik, C. et.al. Louise Bourgeois, The Locus of Memory. Brooklyn, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Morgan, S. Louise Bourgeois. Cincinnati, OH: The Taft Museum, 1987. Wye, D. and Carol Smith. The Prints of Louise Bourgeois. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1982. ART 21: Art in the 21st Century, www.pbs.org. John C. Chamberlin is associate professor of art education at Rhode Island School of Design Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) One of the most eminent fine arts colleges in the U.S., located in Providence, R.I. It was founded in 1877 but did not offer college-level instruction until 1932. , Providence. |
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