Louise Bourgeios: A Lifetime of Art & Passion

It seems there are lots of emails poking fun at the way we age. Truly, I find them funny. Yet there is something stereotypical in assuming a loss of our "creative juices" as we age. The renowned French artist, Louise Bourgeois, (1911-2010) an example of continuing original creativity regardless of age.

 

As a younger woman, Ms. Bourgeois created monumental works in marble, glass, latex, rubber, and metal. Her best-known sculptures are her 30-foot high spiders in a series titled, "Maman." (They are tributes to her mother and the other women who worked in the family business of repairing and reweaving valuable tapestries.)

 

 

 When she was 88 years old (1999), she accepted a commission as the first artist to create a monumentally-sized work for the Tate Modern. The commission was to fill Turbine Hall - a room which is 30-feet high and 500 feet long. The installation was titled, "I Do I Undo and I Redo." 

 

 Louise Bourgeois has also explored her ideas in printmaking, painting and performance. In 2007, the Tate Modern curated a survey of her works over a span of 70 years. The survey included some 200 pieces. 

 She conducted Sunday salons for artists, had an exhibition of her textile prints in Stockholm,and was working on a commission in 2010 for the Maison de Balzac in Paris, before her death at age 99. Her last year, she made art to help finance the activism organization, Freedom to Marry. She also created for HIV and Act Up, believing that all people should be treated fairly and equally.

As one writer stated of her, "At 98, and still working, she is a fierce woman who is original, curious, intelligent, sensitive, generous, wildly imaginative, sexual and uncompromising." All I can add is "atta girl," Louise!

Pierre Solanges at 102*: Painting Reflective Beauty

 

 

Pierre Soulages (1919-) was born in Rodez, France and moved to Paris to study art. However, he decided not to go to art school and returned to his home.

 In 1940, he was called to serve in World War II. After the war, he returned to Paris, found a studio, and had his first exhibit at age 28. Since then, he has received many awards and recognition. One of his outstanding achievements is to be the first living artist to exhibit in the The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 During his long career, Soulages has dabbled in many different media. His works range from stained-glass windows to lithography, engraving, set designing and painting. He is most famous for his black paintings.

 According to his bio, Soulages has always been fascinated with black. Even as a child, he used black to express himself in his paintings. (He doesn't find any of this strange because even the ancient drawings were made with charcoal.)

While traveling in East Asia, he was taken back to his childhood painting by the beauty of the Japanese black calligraphy on white paper. It was part of what influenced Soulages to paint a series in black which he titled, "Outrenoir." (Beyond Black)

This series would mark a turning point in his career. He is considered to be one of the most highly regarded abstract painters after WW2.

 To quote Wikipedia: He sees light as a matter to work with; striations of the black surface of his paintings enable him to make the light reflect, allowing the black to come out from darkness and into brightness, thereby becoming a luminous colour"

 Since making his gallery debut in 1947, Soulages has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art,, the Louvre, and the State Heritage Museum (he was the first living artist to show at the institution), and his work has been acquired for the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Guggenheim, Tate Modern, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. At auction, Soulages’s work regularly sells for seven-figure prices. 

*This remarkable artist will celebrate his longevity when he turns103 in December, 2022...  félicitations et encore de nombreuses années à faire de l'art.