Re: pairing Louise Bourgeois: sculpture and psychoanalysis in the years 1946 -1969
Date
2016
Authors
Cohen, Andrea Sue Michelle
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The
early
part
of
this
dissertation
is
concerned
with
a
particular
period
(1946-‐1969)
in
sculptor
Louise
Bourgeois’
life
when
her
artistry
and
her
psychoanalysis
overlapped
for
the
first
time.
Within
this
time
frame,
the
years
1952
–
1969
reference
a
particular
period
when
she
was
in
deep
psychoanalysis
with
Dr.
Henry
Lowenfeld,
a
period,
which
profoundly
affected
her
self
understanding
and
associated
art
practice.
By
establishing
her
positioning
within
a
story
of
Modernism
(as
a
departure
point)
I
will
then
go
on
to
consider
how
the
more
traditional
historical
readings
of
her
work
can
be
used
to
understand
her
work
and
behavior
within
a
more
pronounced
psychoanalytic
frame.
From
this
positioning
I
will
reconsider
Bourgeois’
artistic
practice
as
being
deeply
linked
to
an
unconscious
need
to
repair
early
psychic
ruptures
with
maternal
and
paternal
caretakers.
From
a
Kleinian
position
I
will
foreground
Bourgeois’
predisposition
to
sculpt
as
a
reparative
enactment
driven
by
her
primary
internal
Object-‐Relations.
Key
works
and
free-‐associative
written
material
(composed
in
relation
to
her
psychoanalytic
sessions
from
the
outlined
time
frame)
will
provide
evidence
for
her
psychic
shifts
over
the
period.
These
will
be
investigated
in
relation
to
changes
in
her
sculptural
output
-‐
key
signifiers
of
repressed
psychic
experience,
becoming
conscious.
The
dissertation
seeks
to
understand
the
relationship
between
these
two
investigative
processes
(art
and
psychoanalysis).
Similarly,
with
reference
to
Bourgeois,
the
latter
half
of
this
project
will
investigate
my
personal
(parallel)
experience
as
a
sculptor
and
analysand1 .
In
relation
to
both
enquiries,
I
will
specifically
consider
the
therapeutic
relationship
between
the
physical
act
of
making
artworks
and
the
verbal
psychoanalytic
experience.
In
an
effort
to
understand
how
the
pairing
of
these
two
communicative
modalities
might
impact
artistic
experience.
Description
Thesis (M.A. (Fine Arts))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Arts, 2016.
Keywords
Citation
Cohen, Andrea Sue Michelle (2016) Re: pairing Louise Bourgeois : sculpture and psychoanalysis in the years 1946 -1969, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/21950>