Louise Bourgeois

Through the 21st of may, The Walters art gallery in conjunction with the Contemporary Museum will be showing work by renowned 20th century artist, Louise Bourgeois. The work, spread throughout both buildings presents work from all stages of the artists career, from the 1930s until today.

the show is aptly titled femme, and is a departure from the spiders that many people associate with Bourgeoisis. Work focuses instead on the strength, sensuality, Fertility and vulnerability of women in the world.

Mostly sculpture, the exhibit in the Contemporary houses the most recent work, and includes prints and video work, as well as reference material to the artists life and work.

The Walters chose to display the work spread throughout their permanent collection, supposedly to show the work alongside of historical pieces that confront the same issues, and or inspire the type of work. For the most part, the work blends seamlessly with the collection, emphasizing many of the themes that involve them.

This method of presentation though interesting, and effective in may cases does leave some of the work stretching for a connection to the permanent collection pieces surrounding them. In addition, it gets rather tiresome having to hunt and peck throughout the museum for specific pieces amongst five millennia of artesian work.

Lastly, the comments left behind by the artist five the work presented a more personal and intimate feel, as well as help to explain the pieces to the intimidated viewer.

There is a Charge to get into the Walters side (with extensive discounts for students) but I highly recommend the show, especially for people who may not be familiar with feminine/feminist work.

here are some links The Walters
The Contemporary
Louise Bourgeois