To mark the artist’s 100th birthday, the Fondation Beyeler presents an exhibition of about twenty works, including sculptures from every decade of her career, on view 3.9.2011 – 8.1.2012.
This outstanding selection addresses central themes of her oeuvre, such as her involvement with other artists, her transmutations of biographical events, and her translation of emotions into objects of art. This holds especially for the legendary Cells, represented in the show by Passage Dangereux (1997), the largest-scale Cell Bourgeois ever created. In addition to series of works from major museums and private collections, such as The Insomnia Drawings (1994-95), the exhibition includes more recent works – including the late cycle A l’infini (2008) – which have never before been on public view. These are juxtaposed to groups of works by artists from the Beyeler Collection whom she knew personally and with whom she had a special relationship, such as Fernand Léger, Francis Bacon, and Alberto Giacometti.
The exhibition was planned together with the artist (d. May 31, 2010) and emerged in collaboration with the Louise Bourgeois Studio. It is curated by Ulf Küster, curator at the Fondation Beyeler.
Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) was one of the most significant and influential artist personalities of our times. She would have celebrated her 100th birthday on December 25, 2011. To mark this occasion, the Fondation Beyeler is mounting an exhibition featuring a concentrated selection from her oeuvre. An advance highlight is the presentation of her renowned and largest spider sculpture Maman (1999) on Bundesplatz in Bern, Bürkliplatz in Zurich, and at a site in Geneva. Subsequently Maman will be on view during the exhibition in the Fondation Beyeler park in Riehen/Basel.
Image: Maman on Bürkliplatz in Zurich, Photo: Mark Niedermann © Louise Bourgeois Trust
www.fondationbeyeler.ch