Louise Bourgeois's Legacy and Posthumous Reception Debated

The article reflects on the legacy of Louise Bourgeois, who died suddenly in May 2010, just a year and a half before her 100th birthday. It notes her incredible productivity in her final decade, creating daily in her Chelsea home. The text contrasts two schools of thought vying to interpret her work: one comprising critics and curators who had direct contact with her, especially after her 1981 MoMA exhibition curated by Deborah Wye; the other consisting of scholars and theorists who see her as a heroic female figure breaking the male genius mold, embodying Freudian and post-Freudian feminist archetypes. The author warns that if Bourgeois's artistic destiny is to be 'dispersed across a hundred cities' and 'become her admirers,' there is reason to worry about the initial reception of her art. The piece also mentions filmmaker Brigitte Cornand, who captured Bourgeois's intimacy on film, and her assistant Jerry Gorovoy. Bourgeois continued drawing until the day before her death, ultimately succumbing to pneumonia and two heart attacks.