ARTIST LOUISE BOURGEOIS DIES AT AGE 98

ARTIST LOUISE BOURGEOIS, WHOSE SCULPTURES EXPLORING WOMEN'S DEEPEST FEELINGS ON BIRTH, SEXUALITY AND DEATH WERE HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL ON YOUNGER ARTISTS, DIED MONDAY, HER STUDIO'S MANAGING DIRECTOR SAID. SHE WAS 98. BOURGEOIS HAD CONTINUED CREATING ARTWORK, HER LATEST PIECES WERE FINISHED JUST LAST WEEK, BEFORE SUFFERING A HEART ATTACK SATURDAY NIGHT, SAID THE STUDIO DIRECTOR, WENDY WILLIAMS. THE ARTIST DIED AT BETH ISRAEL MEDICAL CENTER IN MANHATTAN, WHERE SHE LIVED. WORKING IS A WIDE VARIETY OF MATERIALS, SHE TACKLED THEMES RELATING TO MALE AND FEMALE BODIES AND EMOTIONS OF ANGER, BETRAYAL, EVEN MURDER. HER WORK REFLECTED INFLUENCES OF SURREALISM, PRIMITIVISM AND EARLY MODERNIST SCULPTURES SUCH AS ALBERTO GIACOMETTI AND CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI. 'I REALLY WANT TO WORRY PEOPLE, TO BOTHER PEOPLE', SHE TOLD THE WASHINGTON POST IN 1984. BOURGEOIS' WORK WAS ALMOST UNKNOWN TO THE WIDER ART WORLD UNTIL SHE WAS 70, WHEN NEW YORK'S MUSEUM OF MODERN ART PRESENTED A SOLO SHOW OF HER CAREER IN 1982. AMONG THE HONORS COMING TO HER WAS A NATIONAL MEDAL OF ARTS, AWARDED BY PRESIDENT CLINTON IN 1997. IN OCTOBER, SHE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HALL OF FAME IN SENECA FALLS, NY. IN 2001, THOUSANDS OF TOURISTS SAW HER WORK 'SPIDERS' WHEN IT WAS EXHIBITED ON THE PLAZA AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER FOR 2 1/2 MONTHS AS PART OF A PUBLIC ART FUND PROGRAM TO PROMOTE OUTDOOR EXHIBITS IN NEW YORK. IT FEATURED A 30 FOOT HIGH SPIDER 'MAMAN' CARRYING A BASKET OF EGGS, FLANKED BY TWO SMALLER SPIDERS. IN 2007-08, AN ELABORATE RETROSPECTIVE OF HER CAREER, FROM THE 1940s ONWARD, WAS DISPLAYED AT THE TATE MODERN IN LONDON, THE GEORGES POMPIDOU CENTER IN PARIS AND THE SOLOMON R GUGGENHEIM IN NEW YORK. MEANWHILE, YOUNGER ARTISTS CITED HER AS AN INSPIRATION. BOURGEOIS WAS BORN IN PARIS IN 1911; HER PARENTS RN A BUSINESS RESTORING ANTIQUE TAPESTRIES. IN HER EARLY YEARS, SHE STUDIED AT THE ACADEMIE DES BEAUX-ARTS AND OTHER SCHOOLS AND STUDIOS. SHE MOVED TO NEW YORK IN 1938 AFTER MARRYING THE ART HISTORIAN ROBERT GOLDWATER AND BECAME AN AMERICAN CITIZEN IN 1955. A PROFESSOR OF ART HISTORY AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, GOLDWATER WAS ALSO DIRECTOR OF THE MUSEUM OF PRIMITIVE ART, ESTABLISHED IN 1957, AND WROTE A KEY BOOK ON THE TOPIC, 'PRIMITIVISM IN MODERN ART'. WHILE BOURGEOIS WORK SHOWS THE INFLUENCE OF PRIMITIVE ARTISTS, SHE WAS QUICK TO NOTE THAT HER WORK WAS NOT PRIMITIVE. HER HUSBAND DIED IN 1973. SHE IS SURVIVED BY TWO SONS, ALAIN AND JEAN-LOUIS, AS WELL AS TWO GRANDCHILDREN AND A GREAT-GRANDCHILD. A PRIVATE FUNERAL IS PLANNED FOR FAMILY MEMBERS.

A private funeral is planned for family members.