This research project wants to assess to what extent Louise Bourgeois is employing Surrealist practices in her work. Another question is in what way Bourgeois criticized the practices of historical Surrealism and how she has developed these practices further in order to adapt them to new subject matter, for instance feminist themes.
Chapter I tries to elucidate, how art historians and art critics since the 1980s referred to Surrealism when interpreting Bourgeois’ work. It is possible to show that Bourgeois used the concept of the “Surrealist object” for her installations. However, she did this in a way in which the female body is only present by implication. The erotic dimension, which was of great importance for the Surrealists, is destroyed by allusions to old age and death. Bourgeois’ installations of the 1990s can therefore be considered as a radical and feminist reuse of the surrealist object.
Chapter II looks at works which imply allusions to the unconscious and psycho-analysis, like the installations Arch of Hysteria (1992/3) and Precious Liquids (1992). Here I also take into account Bourgeois’ own comments on her work. Although artist’s comments do not represent a definitive interpretation of a work of art, this aspect seems justified as Bourgeois claims that her art is the result of her direct access to her unconscious. At least according to Freud this direct access is impossible, the unconscious being something impenetrable, which communicates with the conscious only by signs. However, in her installations Bourgeois consistently makes allusions to the erotic and desire, but she also shows their reverse side: fear, pain, violence, voyeurism, ephemerality, and the ambiguities of male and female identity.
Chapter III looks at the overall social context of the 1960s and 1970s, to which Bourgeois responded with her art, for instance by supporting the Women’s Liberation movement. It seems likely that the story of her personal traumatic experiences as a young girl in France was motivated so late in life by changes in the art world, where Modernism had lost its impact and where art again should deal with content and the biographical.
Conclusion: Louise Bourgeois uses the aspects of emancipation and critique inherent in historical Surrealism, in order to criticize the patriarchal aspects of Surrealism. At the same time she develops Surrealist practices further in order to deal with new subject matter, like feminism, the body, and emotional violence.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 Rephrasing the Surrealist object
Chapter II On unstable ground: The unconscious as one of the foundations of Bourgeois’ art
Chapter III Between the personal and the political: Transforming and reworking Surrealism
Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This research project assesses the extent to which Louise Bourgeois employs and critically reworks Surrealist practices within her contemporary visual art, specifically addressing how she adapts these historical techniques to incorporate feminist themes and personal biographical narratives.
- The critical reinterpretation of the "Surrealist object" in Bourgeois' installations.
- The relationship between the unconscious, psychoanalysis, and the production of art.
- The role of biographical trauma in shaping feminist and political dimensions of her work.
- Bourgeois' critical response to the patriarchal structures inherent in historical Surrealism.
Excerpt from the Book
Rephrasing the Surrealist object
When interpreting and describing works by Louise Bourgeois, art critics and art historians almost regularly invoke Surrealism as an important background for the development of Bourgeois’ art.
The earliest example for compositions suggesting the Surrealist practice of combining incompatible objects in order to create the impression of chance, the marvelous or the uncanny, is the series of paintings produced between 1945 and 1947 and titled Femme Maison. They show legs and lower parts of nude female bodies which in their upper parts, starting at the abdomen or the shoulders, are transformed into a house. The idea could be Surrealist in origin. Parallels can be seen in the exquisite corpse drawings, which the Surrealists produced collectively. Magritte’s painting Le Thérapeute (1941) comes to mind, representing a seated male figure, whose torso consists of a bird cage. Other parallels are Dali’s sculpture Vénus de Milo aux tiroirs (1936), and his drawings and paintings Femme Tiroir (1936) and Le Cabinet anthropomorphique (both 1936). Both the torsos and the female reclining nudes in Dali’s paintings consist of drawers. The subject originated in the expression “chest of drawers”, which Dalì took literally and which presented him with the opportunity to create a further representation of a Surrealist object, which was related to psycho-analysis: The drawers suggest the obscure, “unconscious” recesses of the human mind. Correspondingly, at the origin of Bourgeois’ paintings is also a play on words, the French “femme maison” denoting both woman-house and house-wife.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: This chapter outlines the historical context of Surrealism and introduces the research question regarding how Louise Bourgeois uses and criticizes these practices.
Chapter 1 Rephrasing the Surrealist object: This chapter examines how Bourgeois adopts the concept of the "Surrealist object" in her installations while infusing it with feminist critiques and biographical references.
Chapter II On unstable ground: The unconscious as one of the foundations of Bourgeois’ art: This chapter analyzes the role of the unconscious and psychoanalysis in works like Arch of Hysteria and Precious Liquids, questioning the artist's own stated relationship to these theories.
Chapter III Between the personal and the political: Transforming and reworking Surrealism: This chapter explores the social and political framework of the 1960s and 1970s, investigating how Bourgeois' art connects personal trauma with broader feminist movements and political emancipation.
Conclusion: This final section synthesizes how Bourgeois transcends historical Surrealism by transforming its practices to address modern concerns of gender, body politics, and emotional violence.
Keywords
Louise Bourgeois, Surrealism, Surrealist object, Unconscious, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Arch of Hysteria, Precious Liquids, Femme Maison, Biographical account, Patriarchy, Visual art, Installation, Trauma, Modernism.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research paper?
The paper examines the artistic relationship between Louise Bourgeois and the historical Surrealist movement, specifically how she employs, reworks, and critiques its practices.
What are the central thematic fields discussed?
The key themes include the "Surrealist object," the function of the unconscious in art, feminist perspectives on patriarchal structures, and the intersection of biography and political critique.
What is the primary objective of the work?
The study aims to determine if and how Bourgeois uses Surrealist practices to adapt her art to modern subject matter, such as feminism and personal trauma, and whether this constitutes a critical rejection or a continuation of Surrealism.
Which scientific methodology is applied?
The author uses a qualitative art-historical analysis, examining specific installations and comparing them to historical Surrealist works while incorporating artist interviews, biographical accounts, and psychoanalytic theory.
What is covered in the main section of the paper?
The main chapters analyze the application of the Surrealist object in Bourgeois' installations, the role of psychoanalysis in her work, and the political and cultural context of her response to the 1960s and 1970s women's movement.
Which keywords characterize this work?
The work is defined by terms such as Surrealist practices, feminism, psychoanalysis, biographical narrative, and the critical reworking of modernist sculpture.
How does Bourgeois change the meaning of the "Surrealist object"?
Bourgeois reclaims the object by focusing on implication rather than literal representation, often using personal clothing and household items to critique male-dominated fetishism and domesticity.
Why does the author consider Precious Liquids an enigmatic installation?
It acts as a complex psychological setting that triggers viewer associations with memory, hospital environments, and repression, without offering a singular, fixed interpretation, thereby challenging the viewer's role.
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- Dr. Joachim Stark (Autor:in), 2008, Elements of Surrealist practices in contemporary visual art: Louise Bourgeois’ critical reworking of Surrealism, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/148392
