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Humanities LibreTexts

11.4: Louise Bourgeois, Maman

  • Page ID
    182312
    • Bank of America, "Louise Bourgeois, Maman," in Smarthistory, March 7, 2022, accessed December 23, 2022, https://smarthistory.org/louise-bourgeois-maman/.
    • Smarthistory

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    by


    French sculptor Louise Bourgeois is best known to audiences around the world for her spider sculptures. At more than thirty feet tall, her work Maman, an homage to her mother cast in bronze, stainless steel and marble, is a spider that towers above all the rest and not just literally. Bourgeois’ bold imagination and ambition to create such a work with not only technical precision, but deep love, reflects an artist of depth. Learn more about this masterpiece, the iconic artist, and the woman who inspired her with Rod Bigelow, Executive Director and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.