Lot 9 Dα

Louise Bourgeois' drawings are delicate and full of poetic allure, but at the same time powerful and confident. An intense, unsparing self-questioning and the processing of unsettling childhood experiences are the foundations of her artistic creativity and run as a common thread through her drawings and sculptural work.
They also define her subjective perception of everyday objects and occurrences: “In the past, I walked through a nocturnal garden and looked at the plants, one nestled against the other. On clear nights, the shadows cast by the plants onto the ground always attracted me and frightened me. […] The following morning, the same place seemed harmless, divest of any secret. This wasn't because of the nature itself but rather the experience of a particular place at a particular time.” (Louise Bourgeois, quoted after: Louise Bourgeois, Der Ort des Gedächtnisses, Skulpturen, Environments und Zeichnungen 1946-1995, exhib.cat. Deichtorhallen Hamburg 1996, p.82f).
Slim, towering forms reminiscent of vegetal motifs ran through Bourgeois' drawings from the end of the 1940s, beginning of the 1950s, and define the sculptural work of this time.