Femme Maison

1938–2010 · Virkested

New York City

1980s

Returns to printmaking in her seventies

Bourgeois returned to printmaking after a long hiatus, in her seventies, encouraged first by print publishers: she set up her old press, added a second and worked with printers who came to her house. Over her life she created approximately 1,500 printed compositions.

1982

First retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art

In 1982 the Museum of Modern Art in New York held Bourgeois’s first retrospective; she was seventy, and until then had been a peripheral figure whose work was more admired than acclaimed. The New York Times wrote that her work was charged with tenderness and violence, acceptance and defiance.

1982

The text “Child Abuse” in Artforum

In 1982 Bourgeois wrote a text for Artforum titled “Child Abuse”, in which she defined her artistic concepts almost entirely in terms of childhood trauma.

1985

First solo exhibition in France

In 1985 Bourgeois’s first solo exhibition in France was held.