femme maison – Little Bristling Soul

Louise Bourgeois, Femme Maison (Untitled), 1946/7

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Ecstasy of St Teresa of Avila, 1647-52 (detail), marble and gilded bronze

Louise Bourgeois, Femme Maison, 1983, marble

Louise Bourgeois, Les voleuses de gratte ciel, 1949. Pencil on paper.

Louise Bourgeois, Femme-Maison, 1981, marble, 48 1/8 x 47 x 49 7/8″

full text

Louise Bourgeois

Femme Maison

1947

Medium: Ink, gouache, and pencil on paper

Dimensions: 12 ¼ x 9 ¼" (31.1 x 23.5 cm)

Credit Line: Promised gift of Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr.

Accession Number: PG478.2007

Femme Maison

State/Variant:Version 1 of 2, only state

Date:1947

This composition appeared first in an ink on linen work of 1946-47, and was then used for an exhibition brochure for “Louise Bourgeois: Paintings” on view at Norlyst Gallery, New York from 10/28-11/8/1947. The composition was also reproduced on the cover of Lucy Lippard, “From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women’s Art,” (New York: Dutton, 1976); and for an exhibition poster for “‘Louise Bourgeois Sculpture/The Prints of Louise Bourgeois” at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, on view 10/15-12/31/1995.

Artist’s Remarks:“I consider this perfect… it brings the personal together with the environment… it is a symbiosis of one with the universe… it is a kind of acceptance.” The figure “is serene… it doesn’t mind.” But Bourgeois added, “There is a sexual loneliness. She is dignified, but she is alone… she has no companion. The little hand is trying to call for help. She is not sexual at all. Her head does not know that she is naked. She has no hair or bosom… they are occupied by work.” (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. “The Prints of Louise Bourgeois.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 148.

Louise Bourgeois

Femme Maison

1982

Medium: Plastic doll and clay

Dimensions: overall: 16 x 5 ¼ x 2" (40.6 x 13.3 x 5.1 cm)

Louise Bourgeois, Femme Maison, 1994, white marble

Louise Bourgeois, Femme Maison