Omfamningar. Rummets och gränsens meningar : Om Louise Bourgeois' och Rachel Whitereads verk

Sammanfattning:   The aim of this dissertation is to create and convey an understanding of the significance of space and limits in the works of artists Louise Bourgeois and Rachel Whiteread. Focus is placed upon the physical and spiritual dimensions of their works of art. The primary material is made up by Louise Bourgeois’s and Rachel Whiteread’s sculptures, mainly six pieces: Louise Bourgeois’s Quarantania I (1949-1952), Fée Couturière (1963) and Cell VII (1998), Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (1991), Untitled (Room) (1993) and Embankment (2005).    Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris, in 1911 (she has lived in New York since 1938), and Rachel Whiteread was born in London, in 1963. They belong to different generations and cultures, but come together through the use of a relation which I have perceived as a main theme in the artistry of both women. A relation, the exploration of which begins in the title Embraces. The study rests on a bodily structure, in method as well as in disposition. I have met the sculptures in the present room, struck up a dialogue with them. The chapters Birth, Body and Space bring the works of Louise Bourgeois and Rachel Whiteread together with an expansive historical and aesthetical material, in order to widen and deepen the dialogue on the significance of limits and space.