Louise Bourgeois at the Hermitage

Louise Bourgeois first travelled to Russia in 1932, at the age of 21, having just received her Baccalaureate in philosophy from the University of Paris. Her second journey occured in the spring of 1934, and included a visit to the Moscow Theater Festival, to see the work of the Russian Constructivists, and to observe May Day celebrations in Red Square. Nearly 70 years later, Bourgeois returned to Russia on the occasion of her retrospective at the State Hermitage Museum, the first major exhibition of a living American artist to be held at that institution. From the teetering "personages" of the late 1940s, which represent the members of the family she left behind in France, to the great steel protectress "Maman," created in 2001 especially for the Hermitage courtyard, Bourgeois' indomitable will, psychological complexity, and brash, bold personality show through in the sculptures and drawings illustrated here.