Coda: Louise Bourgeois, Visionary and Influential Artist, Dies in Manhattan at 98

Louise Bourgeois in her Brooklyn studio on Dean Street

Louise Bourgeois, the French-born American artist who gained fame only late in a long career, when her psychologically charged abstract sculptures, drawings and prints had a galvanizing effect on the work of younger artists, particularly women, died on Monday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 98.


The cause was a heart attack, said Wendy Williams, managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Ms. Bourgeois’s sculptures in wood, steel, stone and cast rubber, often organic in form and sexually explicit, emotionally aggressive yet witty, covered many stylistic bases. But from first to last they shared a set of repeated themes centered on the human body and its need for nurture and protection in a frightening world.

More from the NY Times obituary here.

2008 Posting here at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn about Ms. Bourgeois's show at hte Guggenheim and former studio on Dean Street here.