Housewife
2015-01-10


"... for the first time in my life, I began to understand what it must be like to be a woman. To have to accept that the world's view is male and all the assumptions that come with it, such as: everything you do and say is seen and judged through the prism of your sexuality, that the expectation is you will fulfill the multiple roles of mother, housekeeper, companion, worker and lover with deference and gratitude, and that men – lazy, selfish, conceited men – are not forced to wear the same, or any other straightjacket. Bourgeois's genius is that she is able to put all this across with some small paintings that are so simple they are almost naive." - Will Gompertz, 8 October 2008, for www.theguardian.com

Femme maison, 1983 by Louise Bourgeois.

Source: Louise Bourgeois. The Fabric Works by Germano Celant, Skira, 2010.

Although Gompertz is referring to the painting series called Femme Maison that were made by Bourgeois from 1945–47, I feel his words are relevant here.


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