6 April 2003 RUNAWAY GIRL: THE ARTIST LOUISE BOURGEOIS by by Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan, Abrams, March 2003, ISBN 0-8109-4237-2

"November 1982. Crowds waited in long lines at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. They were there to see the work of the first woman sculptor to be singled out for a retrospective in the museum's fifty-three-year history. More than an exhibit, a retrospective honors an artist's lifetime achievement...

"A few months before the MoMA show opened, she gave a slide show and lecture. As the photographs flashed on the screen, she shocked her audience by speaking out for the first time about her childhood; the upsetting domestic triangle of father, mother, and mistress; and the impact it had on her art making. For an artist to talk about the psychological roots of her creative process was highly unusual...

"Even as she told her story, Louise warned her listeners to keep their eyes on the art. 'An artist's words are always to be taken cautiously.' "

As you read RUNAWAY GIRL, a beautifully-crafted book that illuminates Louise Bourgeois's story, it is impossible not to keep your eyes on the art. The book is absolutely saturated with vivid photographs of the ninety-two year-old artist's work, as well as a progression of photos of Louise throughout a life that spanned nearly the entire twentieth century and has continued on into the new millennium. Louise's story--from a childhood in France to an apartment in Manhattan--encompasses family, creativity, and personal evolution, as well as her historic role in breaking down sexual barriers in the art world.

But what makes RUNAWAY GIRL such an important piece of nonfiction for young adults is that unique peek at the psychological roots of an artist's creativity. Greenberg & Jordan provide the perfect measure of Louise's early years in order for us to understand those roots without ever getting bogged down in extraneous detail. The extensive access to her inner life that this controversial artist has granted the authors and their readers makes the book inspiring and unique. I didn't expect to enjoy a book about some female artist I'd never heard of before, but to find out why some two-story-high spiders represent her mother and herself totally captivated me.

"From one of Louise Bourgeois's journals:

The Runaway Girl who never grew up.

I need no support nor comfort.

I need no safety net, no breakfast.

No lunch or tea, no visitors, no telephone calls nor little messages.

No little concerts, no hype, or encouragement for big projects.

No ambitions, no spying on my neighbors.

I need nothing...I can wait, I am not afraid, I am an adult.

Nothing is lacking."

It is also fascinating to see little snippets of the artist at work. For instance, the authors describe her creation of one of my favorite pieces of her art:

"She would go back to [the marble quarries in] Pietranta many times in the sixties and again in the eighties. Jerry Gorovoy, who accompanied her on one such trip, says there wasn't much time for sightseeing. They arrived at their hotel in the evening and instead of going to a restaurant or walking around town, she insisted on getting right to work. Jerry says that Louise had a hard time relaxing. 'If you take her to the beach, she can sit still for about five minutes. Then she gets restless.' Unfortunately, Louise hadn't packed any art supplies--no clay, wax or Plasticine. So she asked Jerry for the shirt off his back. She folded and shaped it, stitching the cotton into position until she was satisfied with the form. The next day at the quarry she changed the design somewhat, then applied gesso, a liquid plaster, to harden the fabric. A larger, marble version was measured and roughed out by the craftsmen at the quarry according to her specifications. Then it was shipped to the studio [in Brooklyn], where, upon her return, she carefully reworked it with a chisel. Eventually Jerry's shirt evolved into Femme Maison, 1983, a fresh interpretation of her familiar subject."

RUNAWAY GIRL concludes with a variety of useful resources, including "How to Look at a Sculpture," and "Where to View Artwork by Louise Bourgeois," as well as an expansive glossary, a bibliography, and a chronological listing of her work.

" What happens next? That is her main focus. And so she stays at home on Twentieth Street, spinning her memories, fantasies, and ideas into art. Free with her thoughts and feelings, up to a point, she lets us know that there are other secrets, other ideas and thoughts to consider about her, about her work. 'I'm a long distance runner. I'm a lonely runner and that's the way I like it.' "

It was a delight to "meet" Louise. Long may she run.

Richie Partington

http://richiespicks.com

BudNotBuddy@aol.com