The Family 2007

Louise Bourgeois made "The Family" using watercolor and pencil on paper. The fluid quality of the watercolor allows for spontaneous marks and washes, bleeding into the paper's surface to blur outlines, and evoke a sense of fragility. The translucent pigment reveals the texture of the paper, becoming an integral part of the image. Bourgeois wields the pencil to add details that give form and definition to the composition. This combination of techniques allows her to produce a variety of lines and tonal effects, from fine, controlled strokes to broad, gestural marks. The deliberate choice of such accessible materials gives the work its particular emotive power. There’s a lot of hand-work involved in this suite of images, a sense of repeated movements that is central to her practice, and key to understanding the full meaning of her work. It invites us to question traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.