With a career spanning eight decades from the 1930s until 2010, Louise Bourgeois is one of the great figures of modern and contemporary art. Her endlessly inventive work, inspired by her memories and experiences, spanned monumental installations, figurative sculptures, fabric collages and drawings, a selection which feature in this exhibition.
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois focuses on works produced during the last 20 years of her life, a period of extraordinary creativity, during which Bourgeois re-imagined many of her lifelong concerns in works that explores identity, gender, motherhood, family and memory. She is perhaps best known for her spider sculptures, and visitors to Aberdeen Art Gallery will have a chance to experience Bourgeois's Spider, 1994 standing at three metres high, one of several important loans from The Easton Foundation in the exhibition.
Aberdeen Art Gallery houses a fine collection of modern Scottish and international art in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. Following a major redevelopment project, Aberdeen Art Gallery won the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year Award in 2020. This is the gallery's third collaboration with Tate and National Galleries of Scotland through the ARTIST ROOMS programme, which previously brought the work of internationally renowned artists Ron Mueck (2009) and Diane Arbus (2011) to the city.
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois is travelling around the UK in 2024:
- Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, 2 March – 9 June 2024
- Compton Verney, Warwickshire, 6 July – 6 October 2024
This exhibition has toured nationally since 2022 to the following venues:
- Rugby Art Gallery & Museum, Rugby, 23 July – 19 November 2022
- Dorset Museum, Dorchester, 22 March – 25 June 2023
- Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, 8 July – 9 September 2023
- Burton Art Gallery & Museum, Bideford, 18 November 2023 – 11 February 2024
ARTIST ROOMS presents the work of international artists in solo exhibitions drawn from a national touring collection jointly owned by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Its programme reaches audiences across the UK and is developed through local partnerships. ARTIST ROOMS gives young people the chance to get involved in creative projects, to discover more about art and artists, and learn new skills.
The ARTIST ROOMS programme and collection is managed by Tate and National Galleries of Scotland with the support of Art Fund, Henry Moore Foundation and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Creative Scotland. Its founding collection was established through The d'Offay Donation in 2008 with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and the Scottish and British Governments.
