Louise Bourgeois’s The Return of the Repressed

Louise Bourgeois
The Return of the Repressed
19 March–19 June 2011

Curator: Philip Larratt-Smith
Organized by Fundación Proa (Buenos Aires), Instituto Tomie Ohtake (Sao Paulo) and Louise Bourgeois Studio (New York)

Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929
La Boca, Caminito
Buenos Aires, Argentina
[54 11] 4104.1000
info [​at​] proa.org / press [​at​] proa.org
www.proa.org

For the first time in Latin America, Fundación Proa presents in Argentina and Brazil Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed, a major exhibition of the artist’s work curated by Philip Larratt-Smith and organized by the Instituto Tomie Ohtake of Sao Paulo, the Louise Bourgeois Studio in New York and Proa, with the support of Tenaris.

Bourgeois’ huge and emblematic piece Maman (1999)—an icon of maternal protection and withdrawal—will dominate the whole exhibition from Proa’s front terrace. With more than 80 pieces on display, including The Destruction of the Father (1974), Le Défi II (1992), Arch of Hysteria (1993), Red Room (Parents) (1994) and Spider (1997), Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed offers a comprehensive overview covering 60 years of artistic production, from her early beginnings until 2009.

In the words of the curator, “All the works have been selected to highlight the enduring presence of psychoanalysis as a motivational force and a site of exploration in her life and work.”

The publication of the two volume catalogue is a project by Philip Larratt-Smith and a joint venture of Fundación Proa and the Louise Bourgeois Studio. As well as an introduction and essay by the curator, the first volume also presents the view of renowned theorists and researchers of diverse backgrounds such as Donald Kuspit, Elisabeth Bronfen, Meg Harris Williams, Juliet Mitchell, Mignon Nixon, Paul Verhaeghe and Julie de Ganck. For the second volume, Philip Larratt-Smith has selected and edited 93 of Bourgeois’ writings never published before now that reveal the impact of psychoanalysis on her creative process.

After Buenos Aires and thanks to the support of Tenaris both in Argentina and Brazil, the exhibition will tour to the Instituto Tomie Ohtake of Sao Paulo in July and to the Museu de Arte Moderna of Rio de Janeiro in September.

Sponsor
Tenaris

Opening times
Tuesdays to Sundays, 11 am to 7 pm
Mondays closed

Daily guided tours
Tuesdays to Fridays, 5 pm
Saturdays and Sundays, 3 pm and 5 pm

*Image above:
Courtesy of Cheim & Read and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Allan Finkelman.