Louise Bourgeois
I Give Everything Away
26 October 2013–23 February 2014
The Fruitmarket Gallery
45 Market Street
Edinburgh, EH1 1DF
www.fruitmarket.co.uk
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Curated by Frances Morris
Louise Bourgeois is one of the greatest and most influential artists of our time. In a career spanning seven decades, from the 1940s until her death in 2010, she produced some of contemporary art’s most enduring images, making sculptures, installations, writings and drawings which, in mining her own psyche, have entered the collective unconscious.
Bourgeois’s work is personal yet universal, rooted in the details of her own life, but reaching out to touch the lives of others. This exhibition of work on paper presents some of her most intimate work, both drawing and writing.
The exhibition begins with a labyrinthine presentation of Bourgeois’s Insomnia Drawings, a remarkable suite of 220 drawings and writings made between November 1994 and June 1995. Created in the suspended state between sleeping and waking, The Insomnia Drawings contain all the major themes of Bourgeois’s work and reveal the close link between drawing and writing that is such a key part of her practice. Also in the exhibition are two suites of large-scale works on paper, When Did This Happen? from 2007, and I Give Everything Away, made right at the end of the artist’s life in 2010. A mix of writing, drawing and printmaking, these large works are both haunted and haunting.
This exhibition complements a major ARTIST ROOMS exhibition of work by Louise Bourgeois on display at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art—Louise Bourgeois, A Woman Without Secrets, Modern One, 26 October 2013 to 18 May 2014.
New publication
Has the day invaded the night or the night invaded the day?
Insomnia in the work of Louise Bourgeois
Published by The Fruitmarket Gallery to accompany the exhibition, this book focuses on the themes and ideas in the exhibition. The book is illustrated with a selection of Bourgeois’s Insomnia Drawings and of her writings, and also includes new texts by Frances Morris and Philip Larratt-Smith. Buy here.
Talks and events
Wee Small Hours
Friday 29 November, 10pm
Stay up all night in Louise Bourgeois: I Give Everything Away. With Book Week Scotland, we embrace insomnia starting with a welcome drink and readings before lullabies lead us into the long watch of the night with live drawing, writing, screenings, refreshments and comfy rest areas. We close with an early morning reading, coffee and croissants. Contributions from Kate Davis, David Hopkins, Vahni Capildeo, JL Williams and others still to be confirmed.
Curator’s talk
Wednesday 15 January 2014, 6:30pm
Exhibition curator Frances Morris (Tate) considers the work in the exhibition in light of the artist’s larger practice in conversation with Fiona Bradley, Director of The Fruitmarket Gallery.
Future Bourgeois: panel discussion
Friday 7 February 2014, 6pm
The artist Phyllida Barlow, the writer Elisabeth Lebovici (EHESS, Paris) and Professor Mignon Nixon (Courtauld, London) consider the current state of research on Louise Bourgeois in this panel discussion. The event brings to a close a collaborative one-day student symposium organised by the ARTIST ROOMS RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP, The Fruitmarket Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland (and held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Modern One) that showcases new research on the artist.
To book for these events call the bookshop on +44 (0)131 226 8181 or email bookshop [at] fruitmarket.co.uk.
