The Guggenheim

This is a review by Jennie Lui. Her eportfolio wasn’t working, so I am posting up her review.

Part provocative, part breathtaking and part disturbing; Louise Bourgeois’s retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum is not an exhibit to be missed; an exhibit I found both enticing and spooky at the same time. Consistent with her signature styles of “abstraction and figuration” coupled with allusive symbols, Bourgeois gives visual form to her past: memories, emotions and personal experiences from her life in prewar Paris to present day New York. All her pieces resonate bits and pieces of her history, from her childhood in Paris to adulthood in America. A few of installations really caught my attention as I made my way up the Guggenheim’s six rotunda levels.

One of the very first pieces you encounter as you make your way up the museum is the Femme Maison, or the “House Woman”. The “House Woman” is a trio of pictures depicting a woman’s head and torso being consumed by a house while the lower body is naked and vulnerable yet firmly supporting the very object that traps and devours her. Out of the three, it is the simplest piece, drawn in black and white, which creates the deepest impression. Despite the burden of the house on her body, the woman stands with both feet planted firmly on the ground even though the upper body seems to waver and feel unsteady. Additionally, viewers also get a sense of Bourgeois’ balancing act between her roles as an artist, a mother and a wife, a depiction that carries the underlying idea of the patient and enduring human body. In another installation at the Guggenheim, Bourgeois has another piece also named the Femme Maison except unlike its predecessor; this version is carved of white marble propped upon two timbers. This version shows a house perched on drapery honing the same idea of a fragile vulnerable base supporting the weight of the house that threatens to crush its full form. The drapery may also be in memory of Bourgeois’ family’s business as tapestry weavers.

Further up the Guggenheim museum’s spiral ramps, I was drawn to the darkest and most ominous work of Louise Bourgeois’. Named “The Destruction of the Father”, a cave-like interior encases what seem to be bubbly shapes on the top and bottom, bathed in an ominous, dark red light. From a closer observation, it almost emanates tension and claustrophobia. Bourgeois created the installation with the image of a dinner setting in which a cruel father is attacked and eaten by his children. Disturbing, no? Actually, the piece’s inspiration stemmed from Bourgeois’ own traumatic experiences as a child coping with her father’s adulterous affair with her tutor and her mother’s stoic silent suffering of this arrangement. Bourgeois certainly achieved that theme of revenge and suffering she aimed for in creating this piece. This was by far, one of the most interesting installations because its uneven bulges and dark lighting create an air of unease and while at the same time still drawing you in to observe for yourself.

Louise Bourgeois’ attempt to confront her own history is never more evident than it is in the touching work is Cell (Choisy) in which a scaled replica of Bourgeois’ childhood home is caged and almost feels threatened by the guillotine that hangs ominously overhead. This piece may be one of the easier works to interpret yet it also encompasses the most complexity in emotion. I could feel that Bourgeois has fond memories of the home she grew up in yet the dark feel hints at other hidden dramas inside the seemingly perfect household. I found this piece to be most memorable because its so straightforward and sad at the same time. The house is a place she recalls fondly yet she still can’t shake off the memories of her childhood there. The guillotine is not only a looming item of death she recalls from childhood but also a reminder of sometimes, we bring our own misery and destruction upon ourselves just as her internal family problems felt like a plague on the family home, a place that should have been associated with warmth and love.

These are just a few of the inspirational pieces in the Louise Bourgeois collection, a few amongst many more thought provoking and provocative works. When I used to think of art, the first things that sprung to mind were Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Gogh or things I recalled seeing in the Met but after seeing Bourgeois’ installations at the Guggenheim, I felt my views on the arts broaden and even began to learn how to interpret the pieces from different angles and perspectives. It was definitely a great first-visit to the Guggenheim museum and an unforgettable experience for myself.

Jennie Liu