Born in Paris in 1911, she moved to New York with her husband Robert Goldwater in 1938, where she currently lives. It is here that she began her artistic career: an extremely vast production that uses the most varied of techniques, but always with a particular focus on the creation of sculptural forms. Sculpture involves the body and therefore has the power to exorcise demons; this is how the path of her work unfolds, a continual exploration that delves into the depths of her own personal traumas, fears and suffering. The early emotions of her childhood in France are transferred into the objectivity of small and large sculptures in a wide variety of material, from the solidity of marble to soft fabrics and synthetic materials.
The Capodimonte installation will be composed of approximately sixty works, including two new Cell sculptures that have never before been exhibited.
The works will be exhibited throughout the museum and in the new, recently inaugurated exhibition spaces, in a continual dialogue with the paintings and objects of the antique and prestigious permanent collection of the Capodimonte Museum affirming, yet again, the attention and space that the Fine Arts Office and its renowned museum reserves for contemporary art.
In the Causa Hall, an installation of mixed media hanging sculptures from the 1960s to the present, including the famous Arch of Hysteria (1993); in the central courtyards of the royal palace, the great Maman (1999), with its disturbing height of over 9 metres, will be waiting to welcome the visitors while Crouching Spider (2003), will occupy the central area of the Arazzi d’Avalos hall.
The Cell, Peaux De Lapins, Chiffons Ferrailles À Vendre, is a time capsule of her obsessions and will be installed – for the fist time - in the hall of seventeenth-century Neapolitan paintings, in front of the two versions of Apollo e Marsyas by Jusepe de Ribera and Luca Giordano. Also being exhibited for the first time, Cell (The Last Climb), deals with the passage of time and the journey of life.
A precious collection of Bourgeois’s smaller works will find their pride of place in the Wunderkammer (Cabinets of Wonder) on the main floor, in an intriguing analogy between the precious handmade objects of the ancient and famous House of Farnese collection.
The exhibition also highlights the multiple techniques, materials and solutions that the artist applies, including some of her more recent graphic techniques.
Briefly, a more than worthy tribute to one of the most relevant and important figures of the contemporary art scene.
The exhibition has been organised and curated by Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico, Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Napiil, and Studio Louise Bourgeois; promoted by the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities, the Campania Region and the Local Authority for Tourism and Cultural Heritage, in collaboration with the Province of Naples and the Municipality of Naples.
Naples, Museo di Capodimonte
via Miano 2
Exhibition opening times 10.00 - 19.00
Museum opening times 8.30 - 19.00
The Ticket Office closes at 18.00
closed Wednesdays
Admission
combined admission to Exhibition/Museum
full price 9,00 euro
concessions 4,50 euro
timed ticket 7,00 euro (valid from 14.00 to 17.00)
Booking
required for groups and schools
groups 20,00 euro (min 20 - max 30 people)
schools 5,00 euro (max 30 people)
individuals 1,50 euro
Information and Bookings
848 800 288 / 06 39967050 (Mon.-Fri. 9.00-18.00, Sat 9.00 – 14.00);
Teaching Activities
(Italian, English, French, German, Spanish)
Group visits
length: 1/1.30 hours
charge: 100,00 euro (max 30 people)
In-depth group visits
length: 2/2.30 hours
charge: 165,00 euro (max 30 people)
Scheduled group visits
Saturdays and Sundays at 11,30
length: 1 hour
language: Italian
charge: 4,50 euro per person; Artecard holders 3,00 euro per person
School visits (II° Secondary Schools)
length: 1/1.30 hours
charge: 80,00 euro (max 30 students)
In-depth school visits (II° Secondary Schools)
length: 2/2.30 hours
charge: 130,00 euro (max 30 students)
IN-depth course
The course takes place over three sessions. These focus on investigating the work of Louise Bourgeois starting from the three fundamental elements of her creations.
Programme:
1. From image to sculpture: the role of drawing.
2. Metamorphosis as the essential principle of the work: ambiguity of materials, shapes, and senses.
3. Memory: source and subject of creation. Sculpting the space of the mind.
Venue: Museum of Capodimonte
Audience: teachers and enthusiasts of the subject*
Length: 3 sessions of around 2 hours each
Charge: adults 30,00 euro per person for the whole course
* a minimum number of 25 participants is required for the course to go ahead
Information and Bookings
Associazione Progetto Museo, tel. +39 081 7499246 (lun.-ven. h 9.30 -13.30)
(Mon.-Fri. 9:30-13:30)
Organisation
by Civita
Catalogue
by Electa Napoli
Press Office
Soprintendenza Speciale per il Patrimonio Storico, Artistico, Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Napoli, Simona Golia tel.+39- 081 2294478 fax +39-081 2294498;
e-mail polomusna.uffstampa@arti.beniculturali.it
Civita, Barbara Izzo - Tel. +39-06-692050220 - Fax +39 06-69942202 –
e-mail izzo@civita.it
Electa, Enrica Steffenini tel. 02 21563433 email elestamp@mondadori.it
