Maman (sculpture) explained
Maman |
Artist: | Louise Bourgeois |
Type: | Sculpture |
Material: | Stainless steel, bronze, marble |
Dimensions: | 9.3 x 8.9 x 10.2 m |
Metric Unit: | mm |
Imperial Unit: | in |
Maman (1999) is a bronze, stainless steel, and marble sculpture in several locations by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which depicts a spider, is among the world's largest, measuring over 30 ft high and over 33 ft wide (9.27 x 8.91 x 10.24 metres).[1] It includes a sac containing 32 marble eggs and its abdomen and thorax are made of rubbed bronze.
The title is the familiar French word for Mother (akin to Mummy or Mommy). The sculpture was created in 1999 by Bourgeois as a part of her inaugural commission of The Unilever Series (2000), in the Turbine Hall at London's Tate Modern. This original was created in steel, with an edition of six subsequent castings in bronze.[2] . The Maman at Tate is currently not on display.
Bourgeois chose the Modern Art Foundry to cast the sculpture because of its reputation and work.[3]
Philosophy and meaning
The sculpture picks up the theme of the arachnid that Bourgeois had first contemplated in a small ink and charcoal drawing in 1947, continuing with her 1996 sculpture Spider.[4] It alludes to the strength of Bourgeois' mother with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection. Her mother, Josephine, was a woman who repaired tapestries in her father's textile restoration workshop in Paris.[4] When Bourgeois was twenty-one, she lost her mother to an unknown illness. A few days after her mother's passing, in front of her father (who did not seem to take his daughter's despair seriously), Louise threw herself into the Bièvre River; he swam to her rescue.[5]
Permanent locations
- Tate Modern, UK – The permanent acquisition of this sculpture in 2008 is considered one of the Tate Modern's historical moments. Maman was first exhibited in the Turbine Hall and later displayed outside the gallery in 2000. It was received with mixed reactions of amazement and amusement. The sculpture owned by the Tate Modern is the only one made from stainless steel.. Currently not on display.
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada – The National Gallery of Canada acquired the sculpture in 2005 for 3.2 million dollars. The price took around a third of the annual budget of the gallery.[6]
- Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain[7]
- Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan[8] – On display at the base of Mori Tower, outside the museum.[9]
- Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, United States[10]
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri - Gift of William T Kemper Charitable Trust, installed in 1997 https://www.kemperart.org/collection/spider
- Qatar National Convention Center, Doha, Qatar[11]
Temporary locations
Tours and featured exhibitions of Maman include:
- 2011: Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina[14]
- 2011: Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM), São Paulo, Brasil
- 2011: Bundesplatz, Bern, Switzerland, 24 May – 7 June[15]
- 2011 Bürkliplatz, Zürich, Switzerland, 10 June – 2 August[15]
- 2011 Place Neuve, Geneva, Switzerland, 3 August – 28 August
- 2011-2012 Beyeler Foundation, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, 3 September 2011 – 8 January 2012[15]
- 2012 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, 23 January – 17 June
- 2012 Qatar National Convention Centre, Qatar – The Maman sculpture; exhibited from 20 January – 1 June, at the Qatar National Convention Centre as the centerpiece of the Conscious and Unconscious exhibition; the first solo exhibit of Bourgeois' work to be displayed in the Middle East.[16] The exhibit was organised by the Qatar Museums Authority.[17]
- 2012-2013 Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan
- 2014 Qatar National Convention Centre, Ad-Dawhah, Qatar, February
- 2013-2014 Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico, 15 November 2013 – 2 March 2014
- 2015 Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, January 2015 – 17 May
- 2015 Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 25 September – 7 February
- 2020 Museum Voorlinden, The Hague, the Netherlands, until 17 May
- 2020-2021 Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal, December 2020 - February 2021
- 2022 Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece, 30 March - 6 November[18]
- 2023 Palace Park in Oslo, Norway, 24 April - August
- 2023-2024 Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, 25 November 2023 - 28 April 2024
See also
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Maman . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170304210311/http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artwork.php?mkey=101000 . 4 March 2017 . 18 January 2014 . Collections . The National Gallery of Canada.
- Web site: Manchester. Elizabeth. Summary. Louise Bourgeois : Maman 1999. Tate, London. 18 January 2014. December 2009.
- News: Where Bronze Transforms Into Fine Art. NEIGHBORHOOD JOINT . New York Times . 2012-09-06 . Anderson . Nicole Gates .
- http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/searchresults.aspx?hdnSaleID=23086&LN=29 Louise Bourgeois, Spider (1996)
- https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/ressource.action?param.id=FR_R-d547667f16df9dffd3c6744917eedc58¶m.idSource=FR_E-9af6ff5c3c2a63c039bd503eadd649 Louise Bourgeois, 5 March – 2 June 2008
- http://michaelbruneau.blogspot.com/2011/01/home-to-maman.html Home To Maman: getting to know the mother of all sculptures in the Ottawa landscape
- Web site: Beaven. Kirstie. Louise Bourgeois: Maman Work of the Week, 1 June 2010. Tate, London. 18 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140203003700/http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/louise-bourgeois-maman-work-week-1-june-2010. 3 February 2014. dead.
- Web site: Martin. Amy. Louise Bourgeois and Her Most Famous Piece: Maman. Art History. Answers Corporation. 22 January 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140219041132/http://arthistory.answers.com/famous-artists/louise-bourgeois-and-her-most-famous-piece-maman. 19 February 2014. dead.
- Book: The Rough Guide to Japan. 2011. Rough Guides. London. 978-1405389266. 223. https://books.google.com/books?id=V-guH1q__1wC&pg=PT223. Richmond, Simon. 5th. Dodd, Jan. Roppongi Hills.
- Web site: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art announces the acquisition of four key artworks by acclaimed American artist Louise Bourgeois Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. crystalbridges.org. 4 June 2015 . 21 January 2017. en-CA.
- Web site: Maman by Louise Bourgeois. Qatar Museums. 4 March 2017. en.
- Web site: Snow . Anita . February 5, 2005 . American art makes rare Cuban visit . 2023-04-30 . Sarasota Herald-Tribune . en-US.
- http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_ons003200601_01/_ons003200601_01_0136.php
- de Arteaga, Alicia (13 February 2011). "Una araña gigante en La Boca" . La Nación. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
- Web site: Louise Bourgeois's Sculpture "Maman" on Tour Prior to Major Exhibition at Fondation Beyeler. artdaily.org. 18 January 2014.
- http://www.galleristny.com/2012/01/9597 Louise Bourgeois Solo Show to Open in Qatar
- http://www.qma.org.qa/en/news/news-archive/409-louise-bourgeois-conscious-and-unconscious Louise Bourgeois: Conscious and Unconscious
- Web site: Wedia . Louise Bourgeois, Maman Contemporary Art Installation: A collaboration between NEON & the SNFCC . 2022-03-31 . www.snfcc.org.