Lot 112
  • 112

Louise Bourgeois

Estimate
400,000 - 600,000 USD
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Description

  • Louise Bourgeois
  • Fée Couturière
  • incised with the artist's signature, date 1963/83 and stamped with the number 1/6
  • painted bronze 
  • 39 1/2 by 22 1/2 by 22 1/2 in. 100.3 by 57.2 by 57.2 cm.
  • Conceived in 1963 and cast in 1983, this work is number 1 from an edition of 6 plus 1 artist’s proof.

Provenance

The Easton Foundation, New York
Cheim & Read, New York 
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2007 

Exhibited

Paris, Maeght-Lelong; Zurich, Maeght-Lelong, Louise Bourgeois: Retrospektive 1947-1984, February - May 1985
Bridgehampton, Dia Art Foundation, Louise Bourgeois: Works from the Sixties, May - June 1989 (another example exhibited)
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Masterpieces From the Guggenheim Collection, June - August 1992 (another example exhibited)
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Louise Bourgeois, June 1995 - August 1996, pl. no. 34, p. 60, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Yokohama Museum of Art, Louise Bourgeois: Homesickness, November 1997 - January 1998, pl. no. 35, p. 69 (another example exhibited)
Palermo, Centro Internazionale Mostre, Palazzo Abatellis; Naples, Museo di Castel Nuovo, Maschile / Femminile, May 1998 - March 1999
Monterrey, MARCO; Seville, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo; Mexico City, 
Kyungki-Do, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Louise Bourgeois: The Space of Memory, September – November 2000, p. 127 (another example exhibited)
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Louise Bourgeois, December 2001 - April 2002 (another example exhibited)
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Louise Bourgeois: Drawings and Sculpture, July - September 2002, p. 70, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Warsaw, Zacheta Gallery of Art, Louise Bourgeois: Geometry of Desire, January - September 2003, p. 173, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Zurich, Daros Exhibitions, Louise Bourgeois: Emotions Abstracted, Works 1941-2000, March 2003 - September 2004, fig. no. 25, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Berlin-Brandenburg, Akademie der Künste, Louise Bourgeois: Intimate Abstractions, June - July 2003, pl. no. 8, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Louise Bourgeois: La Famille, March - June 2006, p. 11, illustrated
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Shapes of Space, June - September 2007 (another example exhibited)
London, Tate Modern; Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art; Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Louise Bourgeois: Retrospective, October 2007 - May 2009, fig. no. 120, p. 129, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Buenos Aires, Fundación PROA, Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Repressed, March - June 2011 (another example exhibited)
São Paulo, Instituto Tomie Ohtake; Rio de Janeiro, Museu de Arte Moderna, Louise Bourgeois: The Return of the Forbidden Desire, July - November 2011 (another example exhibited)
Doha, Qatar Museums Authority, Louise Bourgeois: Conscious and Unconscious, January - June 2012, pp. 74-75, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Beijing, Faurschou Foundation; Copenhagen, Faurschou Foundation, Louise Bourgeois: Alone and Together, October 2012 - February 2014, pp. 39 and 111-113, illustrated (another example exhibited)
Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Sammlungshangung Bourgeois, October 2013 - January 2014, (another example exhibited)
Oslo, National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Installed with the Permanent Collection, May 2014 - December 2016 (another example exhibited) 
New York, Cheim & Read, Louise Bourgeois: Suspension, October 2014 - January 2015, n.p., illustrated (another example exhibited)
Munich, Haus der Kunst; Moscow, The Garage Museum of Contemporary Art; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; Humlebæk, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Louise Bourgeois, Structures of Existence: The Cells, February 2015 – February 2017 (another example exhibited)
Berkeley Art Museum, Architecture of Life, January - May 2016 (another example exhibited)

Literature

Carl Haenlein, Ed., Louise Bourgeois Sculptures and Installations, Germany 1994, pl. no. 26, illustrated
Catherine Flohic and Daniel Dobbels, Louise Bourgeois, Charenton-le-Pont Cedex 1994, cat. no. 15, p. 25, illustrated    
Charlotta Kotik, Terrie Sultan and Christian Leigh, Louise Bourgeois: The Locus of Memory, 1982-1993, New York 1994
Marika Wachtmeister, Patrick Amsellem, Ingela Lind, Bera Nordal and Griselda Pollock, Louise Bourgeois: Maman, Sweden 2007, p. 54, illustrated
Francesca Nicoli, "Louise Bourgeois, Homage to a Career,” Biennale & Dintorni: La Biennale di Carrara, August 2008, New York, p. 85, illustrated
Elyse Speaks, “We Bring our Lairs with Us: Bodies and Domiciles in the Sculpture of Louise Bourgeois,” CAA Art Journal, Vol. 68, No. 3, Fall 2009, New York, p. 91, illustrated
Ann Coxon, Louise Bourgeois, London 2010, pp. 40-41, illustrated    
Danielle Tilkin, Ed., Louise Bourgeois Honni soit Qui Mal y Pense, Madrid 2012, p. 15, illustrated
Francesca Nicoli, Giu Le Mani Dalla Modernita, Milan 2013, pl. no. 9, illustrated   

Condition

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There are scattered areas of rubbing to the patina and minor spots of oxidation as to be expected from a work installed in an outdoor environment. There is minor evidence of pitting to the bronze.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

"The choice of nest was obviously not a random one. It was first of all a reference to the nests that, as a child, Louise found in her garden…It would seem, in fact, that after having first tried to exorcise her homesickness by re-creating and transplanting characters from the past into her new environment, Bourgeois then felt the need to create a new home for herself, to take refuge in a nest, to build herself a shelter."

Marie-Laure Bernadac, Louise Bourgeois, Paris 2006, p. 97