Louise Bourgeois, New York, 1996
Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911. Bourgeois’ parents ran a tapestry restoration shop, where Bourgeois helped her parents by drawing the missing pictures on the tapestry. Growing up, she experienced her father having an affair with the English tutor, Sadie Gordan. Her father’s betrayal traumatized her, but also inspired her to make her art. Later in life, she met her husband, Robert Goldwater in Paris who was an American art historian, and they raised three sons together. At the beginning of her artist career, she did painting and printmaking and then later shifted to making sculptures. Bourgeois then passed away at age 98 in New York in 2010.
Femme Maison in French means “house woman” or “woman house” and it was created from 1946 to 1947. Femme Maison is a series of paintings by Louise Bourgeois of nude female figures whose heads have been replaced with buildings. Her artwork represents her being trapped into domestic responsibilities that she needs to fulfill for her family and her husband. Her wife and mother duties took over her life and make it difficult for her to find her artistic voice. Her head and mind were “boxed” into her house and the household responsibilities, so she did not have a lot of time to think about her career. Bourgeois must have struggled with her female identity and gender roles as an artist and caretaker.
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