LOS ANGELES — Louise Bourgeois, an internationally revered artist whose intensely personal work was inspired by psychological conflict, feminist consciousness and a fertile imagination, died Monday in New York. She was 98.
Known for sculptures of giant spiders, women with extra breasts, double-headed phalluses and rooms that resonate with loneliness and dread, Bourgeois was a fearless creative force whose work could be disturbing and perversely witty. Bourgeois often left viewers with questions about the meaning of her work but made no secret of the painful experiences that shaped it.
The spiders are a tribute to her beloved mother, whom she described as “clever, patient and neat as a spider.” Her father, whom the artist perceived as a domineering philanderer, didn’t fare so well. In “The Destruction of the Father” she re-created a youthful fantasy of her father being dismembered and devoured by his family.
“She smashed a taboo,” said Christopher Knight, the Los Angeles Times’ art critic. “Bourgeois was the first modern artist to expose the emotional depth and power of domestic subject matter. Before her, male artists had only nibbled around the edges, and women just weren’t allowed.”
