French-Born, American Artist Louise Bourgeois Dies

Well-know, French-born American artist, Louise Bourgeois, died at 98. Bourgeois was well known late in her career for sculptures, drawings and prints. Among her most familiar sculptures was the much-exhibited “Nature Study” (1984), a headless sphinx with powerful claws and multiple breasts. Perhaps the most provocative was “Fillette” (1968), a large, detached latex phallus. Ms. Bourgeois can be seen carrying this object, nonchalantly tucked under one arm, in a portrait by the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe taken for the catalog of her 1982 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. (In the catalog, the Mapplethorpe picture is cropped to show only the artist’s smiling face.) Here or here for more on the life of Bourgeois.