When Bourgeois was eight years old her family moved to the Parisian suburb of Antony where the Bièvre River, in her words, “cut across the garden in a straight line”. The river was a big part of the move as the family’s tapestry business needed the river to wash the tapestries. Later on in life, in 2002 when Bourgeois was 91, she reflected on her time and connection with the river by creating an embroidered book from fragments of cloth. Through images and text, she allows us to embark on her life with this river and the impact the river has on her. After moving away from her home by the river Bievre, Bourgeois visited with her own family to find that the river no longer existed; “only the trees that my father had planted along its edge remained as a witness”. The melancholic experience of seeing one of her few fond childhood memories disappear inspired the creation of her well renowned book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book is not only beautiful as a piece of art that distils the artist emotions and memories of nature- but is also an amazing presentation of what a 91 year old woman can do when there is heart and passion in the cause. Pieces of text within the book reflect Bourgeois poetic mind with messages such as “with the soil from that river we planted geraniums, masses of peonies and beds of asparagus… and honeysuckle that smelled so sweet in the rain.” Not only is a piece of Bourgeois’ soul within this work, but she used her own garments as raw materials to make sewn fabric collages- sewing a part of her past into the work.

 

The French minister of culture named bourgeois ‘Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters’ in 1983. Other honors within her lifetime included the Grand Prix National de Sculpture from the French government in 1991; the National Medal of Arts, presented to her by President Bill Clinton in 1997; the first lifetime achievement award from the International Sculpture Center in Washington D.C, and election as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1993 she was chosen to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale. Louise Bourgeois' work appears in the most important museum collections worldwide and has been the subject of several major traveling retrospectives organized by the Tate Modern, London, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, The Brooklyn Museum and The Kunstverein, Frankfurt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A truly inspiring, brave and intelligent lady- Bourgeois’ work is talked about all over the world and Ode à la Bièvre can currently be found in the Tate Modern gallery in London within the Poetry and Dreams display amongst four rooms dedicated to a selection of Bourgeois prints, drawings and books.