Louise BourgeoisCell XXVI (2003)

Cell XXVI

What materials/media have they used?• Steel• Fabric• Aluminum• stainless steel • wood

How has the composition of the work been organised? Consider form, scale, colour, texture, space, volume, links between parts and the relationship of elements.• Scale: 252.7 x 434.3 x 304.8 cm

Pascal theory of God being small/large: cells- scales

• Form (sculpture unbalanced relationship between sculpture and architecture) Are we looking at someone who operates on their ‘gut feeling’? Or is this a body twisting and turning and becoming entangled?

• Texture

• Colours

• Relations of elements The jute doll also presents a contradiction. It is not clear whether we are looking at the inside or the outside of a body.

• Position of mirror: However intimate, there is always a barrier between ourselves and others; part of yourself always remains hidden.

• What strikes us is that the mirror is slightly distorting. The doll is not only not properly reflected, we cannot see our own reflection in focus either.

• Are we invited to go in the cell or not?

Why did the artist make these choices?• Material - The materials show a history of Bourgeois’s work and life

• Relationship of element - Pain, trauma, childhood, womanhood, love, hate

• Scale - “Not depend on the museum space,”

• Space - The Cells are museums themselves

• The “Cells” are a conclusion of Bourgeois’s influences, practices and themes.

Is there a focal point or central point?

The focal/central point is the main body that is located hanging in the middle of the cell. It’s the first thing you see as you walk in.

Do you know what the title refers to?• Louise Bourgeois created a series of “Cells”, starting from one to six. The term “Cell”

relates to the idea of a living organism, but also references to a prison cell. This concept relates to her personal life and the traumatic childhood she experienced, as she was imprisoned by all the trauma.

What does it remind you of?• “Cell XXVI” shows a figure in the center of a cage which in my perspective, represents

Bourgeois’ entrapment with herself, her massive reflection against the mirror shows how she can not look at her past and the hole through the cage represents how only one person can look clearly through her mind or actual true self.

What does it remind you of?

Practice Aims“My work grows from the duel between the isolated individual and the shared awareness of the group”

Bourgeois’ work seems to focus on ideas of exclusion, and isolation, but also on the relationships of objects and materials. She often creates sculptures that can be seen as a related singular work, but simultaneously stand alone.

Bourgeois’ work is highly related to her personal life and traumatic childhood, and leads to her creation of physical works to do with the body and sexual desire, in this sense her creation of art becomes a kind of visual language to relay her experiences in life.

What feelings or reactions does this work evoke?DOLL:•Is it the inside or the outside of a body?•Appears twisted•Looks similar to intestines/fecal matter

UNDERSKIRTS:•Delicate•feminine•Suggests as to layers•Intrusion of privacy

http://www.gemeentemuseum.nl/en/organisation/blogs/the-cells-of-louise-bourgeois

MIRROR:•Is the figure reflecting upon something inside them•Is slightly distorted- the reflection in it is therefore not completely clear

CELL:•Is it a prison or a kind of refuge? Keeping something/someone in or out?•The door is open- is something being set free or escaping?

"The spiral is an attempt at controlling the chaos. It has two directions. Where do you place yourself […]? Beginning at the outside is the fear of losing control; the winding in is a

tightening, a retreating, a compacting to the point of disappearance. Beginning at the centre is affirmation, the move outward is a representation of giving, and giving up control:

of trust, positive energy, of life itself. “

- Louise Bourgeois

What influences of other artists can be seen in this work?• Bourgeois’s work often deals with poignant themes such as anxiety, loneliness, betrayal,

sex, and death• Puts emphasis on organic forms and states of metamorphosis which can be traced to her

interest in the French Surrealists; she had met and been influenced artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, and André Breton

Marcel Duchamp

Max Ernst

André Breton

What political, social, historical and religious influences are shown? (if any)The pieces has more social influences:

•Feminist and psychoanalytic themes•Poignant themes such as anxiety, loneliness, betrayal, sex, and death•Themes of her own life

What do you think of the work?• It is a interesting and unique representation of emotion through sculpture

• The mirror provides an interesting reflection of a warped version of the self

• The open cage door, is a good representational action towards her emotional submissive invitation to her own world

• Bourgeois stated that the Cells represent “different types of pain; physical, emotional and psychological, mental and intellectual… Each Cell deals with a fear. Fear is pain… Each Cell deals with the pleasure of the voyeur, the thrill of looking and being looked at.”