Hayward Gallery - Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child

 

Her Signature perhaps?

Yesterday met with a friend to take a look around the much publicised Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child at the Southbank Centre.

I've seen and been shown the work of the hugely feted artist a few times principally I think at Tate Modern.

The exhibition was quite well attended when we arrived and I generally enjoy exhibitions at the Hayward , this particular exhibition was focused on Louise's Textile work and I would think that putting the exhibition together would be a challenge in terms of such a lot of work from a career that lasted over 70 years.

Not the pink and soft of so much of the work
It was interesting to think about how Louise developed a clearly identifiable style and revisited topics that were central to her but I found the work at her personal edges more interesting - both of us felt (?) that the frequent use of 'Untitled' could be frustrating and even a bit of a cop-out.

I liked the model and maquette type portrayals as well as the book  Ode a l'Oubli (36 pages)







Ode a l'Oubli 


Maquette - sometimes smaller items seem to work well

The exhibition certainly had a predominantly female audience and her troubled early life seems to have a strong resonance for many - but I am not sure that the artist offered any great insights beyond foregrounding  the skills of the artist - I wasn't clear if any of the works o show were meant to elicit a 'smile'  - some of them did for me.

Is there dark humour here?


Uncomfortable

Two faced?




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