Room Guide - Room 6

• Room 1
• Room 2
• Room 3
• Room 4
• Room 5
• Room 6
• Room 7
• Room 8
• Room 9
• Room 10

During the later 1960 Bourgeois produceda number of sculptures made from plaster and latex: materials which can be shaped in liquid form and then left to harden. As Bourgeois explained ‘Some materials are fine for the pinning down of ideas, but they are not permanent, and they do not take a satisfactory surface. However, all the shapes have in common the fact that originally they were poured, and could only be obtained through that process’. The amorphous, organic and ‘soft’ qualities of these works symbolise growth, fecundity and germination.

The bulbous forms of the plaster and latex sculpture called  Avenza were used as a basis for later, more ambitious works, such as The Destruction of the Father 1974, also shown in this room. This is the first self-enclosed environment or installation Bourgeois created. The bulbous abscesses used in earlier works are now encased in a box and dramatised by a red light, giving a very claustrophobic effect; as in the theatre, you can only view the work from the front. Here Bourgeois celebrates a childhood fantasy of slaying and consuming her dictatorial father at the supper table.

enlarge this image Amoeba 1963–5
Bronze, painted white, wall piece
Tate © Louise Bourgeois

enlarge this image The Destruction of the Father 1974
Plaster, latex, wood, fabric and red light
Courtesy Cheim & Read, Galerie Karsten Greve and Galerie Hauser & Wirth © Louise Bourgeois Photo: Rafael Lobato



Listen to the exhibition audio tour description from the show about this work

enlarge this image Hanging Janus with Jacket
1968
Bronze, dark and polished patina, hanging piece
Courtesy Cheim & Read, Galerie Karsten Greve and Galerie Hauser & Wirth © Louise Bourgeois Photo: Christopher Burke

enlarge this image Janus in Leather Jacket 1968
Bronze, dark and polished patina, hanging piece
Courtesy Cheim & Read, Galerie Karsten Greve and Galerie Hauser & Wirth © Louise Bourgeois Photo: Christopher Burke

enlarge this image Janus 1968
Bronze, dark and polished patina, hanging piece
Courtesy Cheim & Read, Galerie Karsten Greve and Galerie Hauser & Wirth © Louise Bourgeois Photo: Christopher Burke