Louise Bourgeois "An Unfolding Portrait" at MoMA is an Unforgettable Show so Go

The Louise Bourgeois (LB) exhibit opening at the MoMA is an exhilarating & eye opening look at the work of one of most significant artists of the 20th C.   LB (b France 1911) was a prolific artist into  her late 80's into the 21st C.  She died in NYC in 2010, the city she called home for most her adult life.  On view are works made in 2006 - 2009.  Known primarily as a sculptor, especially for her large spiders, her work spanned many mediums & styles.  The unifying theme to her work cannot be confined to any one idea, image or emotion.  However, her works do evoke strong emotional responses unfolding from tension to serenity and fair to say, female sexuality.  Art historians claim Bourgeois' art germinated from traumatic childhood experience.  How mundane & inane to make these claims.  LB explained, "It is not an image I am seeking.  It's not an idea.  It is an emotion you want to recreate."  This fascinating exhibit elicited strong visceral responses from me.  On MoMA's 2nd floor is one gargantuan spider sculpture sitting atop a cage.  The limbs of the spider are fascinating & ferocious as are the objects confined within the cage, including a decaying chair & fraying tapestries.  LB's most recent etchings (2006-2009) line the walls of the gallery.  The etchings are of nature motifs, a trope throughout her career.  They are beautiful in their grace & simplicity.  Some resemble Ellsworth Kelly & Georgia O'Keefe works.  Her clever titles include "Look Up".  In case you haven't, there is a large spider suspended high on a wall.  The third floor expands the unfolding portrait of LB's work.  The entrance shows rows of 4 X 9 equal sized watercolors.  The childlike images depict the female form & spiders.  The palette is simple and the composition as a whole vibrates with energy.  I favor LB's totem structures.  There are several in the exhibit.  A wall-mounted totem is named "Jean-Louis Portrait" (1947-49).  It's a narrow, oblong form that looks like a skyscraper on top of a large tooth.  "I wanted my son to be beautiful as the skyscraper."  Architectural buildings are often represented in LB's body of work; a tribute to her affinity for NYC.  There are several sculptures that express topiaries.  They are organic & vibrant forms.   Included are her iconic Saint Sebastian drawings.  These depict of the female body assailed by arrows.  Many of the images show a tigress image as an attached head.  Double imageries and spiral shapes appear in multiple galleries.  There is so much to take in with one visit I struggled to digest its full emotional impact.   "An Unfolding Portrait" is wound with fluctuating tension & serenity.  This is an exhibit I will need to come back to see.