Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed

Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010) invented a new kind of language for sculpture--a language that was essentially psychoanalytic, uniquely capable of expressing oedipal struggle, ominous forces of repression, sexual symbolism and material uncanniness. Famed for some of the twentieth century’s most enduring works, such as “The Destruction of the Father” (1974), “Arch of Hysteria” (1993) and “Maman” (1999), Bourgeois also disseminated her influence through her writings, collected in the 1998 volume Destruction of the Father/Reconstruction of the Father: Writings 1927–1997--originally published by Robert Violette, also the publisher of this new deluxe writings-cum-monograph two-volume set. Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed highlights the enduring presence of psychoanalysis as a motivational force and a site of exploration in the artist’s life and work. Selected and edited by Philip Larratt-Smith (Bourgeois’ literary archivist), and contextualized with eight extensive scholarly essays, this collection features approximately 80 previously unpublished writings by the artist, spanning six decades, which offer a new understanding of her work and her engagement with psychoanalysis.