Louise Bourgeois’s ‘Spider IV’ (1996) exemplifies the artist’s seminal series of spider sculptures. Among her manifold themes and motifs, the spider carries a particular cogency in the artist’s oeuvre, functioning as a symbolic progenitor weaving together all aspects of her work. The motif of the spider first appeared in Bourgeois’s oeuvre in 1947, in a small ink and charcoal drawing. In 1994, Bourgeois returned to the subject with her first ‘Spider’ sculpture, made from found materials. During the following decade, she created several bronze and steel ‘Spiders’ of varying dimensions, including an extraordinary group of wall-mounted arachnids. Among these, ‘Spider IV’ is the largest and most celebrated, known not only from Peter Bellamy’s iconic photograph, which shows a beaming Bourgeois with her arms wrapped around two of the spider’s legs, but also thanks to its inclusion in many important Bourgeois exhibitions around the globe.
‘The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. … Spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.’
—Louise Bourgeois [1]
About the artist
Born in France in 1911 and working in America from 1938 until her death in 2010, Louise Bourgeois’s work is inextricably entwined with her life and experiences. For over seven decades, Bourgeois’s creative process was fueled by an introspective reality, often rooted in cathartic re-visitations of early childhood trauma and frank examinations of female sexuality. Articulated by using recurrent motifs (including body parts, houses, and spiders) holding personal symbolism, the conceptual and stylistic complexity of Bourgeois’s oeuvre plays upon the powers of association, memory, fantasy, and fear.
Artwork images © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY. Photo: Jon Etter
Portrait of Louise Bourgeois © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY. Photo: Mark Setteducati
[1] Louise Bourgeois, in 2001, quoted in ‘Maman,’ Guggenheim Bilbao, https://www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus/en/learn/schools/teachers-guides/maman (accessed 25/04/2023).
