Bourgeois Queen Anne’s Lace Print

Leaves, branches and trunks unfurl from a richly painted red and umber surface. The flat pictorial space is divided into horizontal and vertical sections like the warp and weft of a tapestry. Louise Bourgeois later described these 'natural history' paintings as depictions of procreation in the plant world. Created in 1945, Graminée Fleur de Carotte (Queen Anne's Lace) was painted the same year as her first solo exhibition in New York, as she set aside any remaining hints of Cubist influence in her work. Although she would eventually abandon painting for sculpture, the medium was formative in shaping an expressive visual vocabulary that would pave the way for a symbolic and figurative abstraction in her sculptural practice. This painting shows her exploration of the relationship between natural forms and human experiences. The abstract language of procreation and growth can be read as a reflection on her personal experience as a young mother of three children, living and moving between New York and the family's country home in Easton, Connecticut. In 1944 she wrote:

I admire the slow process and precise work of nature. But in my paintings I have not tried to copy nature's work realistically... I have tried rather to paint my picture in a spirit of deliberation and precision that has more and more made me study the [layering] of the surface.

Graminée Fleur de Carotte (Queen Anne's Lace), 1945

15.9 x 20cm (image only)
27.8 x 35.2 x 0.1cm (including white matting)
made in New Zealand

Unframed prints can be shipped both nationally and internationally, framed prints are only available to be shipped within Aotearoa, New Zealand.