Portrait 1963

Louise Bourgeois made this object, called 'Portrait', out of plaster, building the image up from a flat surface, into this craggy little landscape. The material feels both ancient and extremely fragile. It is as if she's building a ruin, but from the inside out. The color palette here is so earthy and muted, like looking at a dried-up riverbed, or maybe the surface of another planet? The texture, though, is where it gets really interesting; it's all built up, lump by lump, with these repetitive gestures that remind me of piling stones. There's something both tender and obsessive about it. Look at how the light catches the high points, drawing your eye up and over the surface. I see echoes of Rodin in this piece, especially in the way Bourgeois coaxes form out of the material. But ultimately, this feels uniquely her. It's raw, vulnerable, and deeply human, reminding us that art is as much about the process as it is about the final image.