Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010), decendant of a french bourgeoisie family, moved to New York in 1938 with her husband, the american art historian Robert Goldwater. Henceforth, she lived there and raised her three sons until she passed at the age of 100 years. The world-renowned artist, known for her installations and sculptures, is celebrated as icon of an argumentative, „feminine“ art.
She opened her home generously in order to encourage discussions with young artists in her library, to give interviews and to invite magazines for photoshootings. The artist was 84 years old when the french photographer and art director Jean-François Jaussaud, widely known for his interior designs published in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Times Magazine, reached out to her. Her only condition was: should she not like the pictures, she would destroy them. Jaussaud passed the test and was allowed to photograph Bourgeois the following 15 years until her death: in her Brooklyn studio – the artist under a bronzen spider – and in the Brownstone House in Chelsea, her home since decades, surrounded by childhood memories – a collection of materials, findings, drawings, painting utensils, books, old photographies…
The work and life of Louise Bourgeois, as Grande Dame of contemporary art, merge seamlessly – like the subject of an early drawing by the artist herself: half woman, half house, laconically titled „Femme Maison“.
