♣️ Motions in Monochrome - The Art of Black & White ♣️
Hands up how many of you have seen this big spider sculpture and thought who on earth did that?
Well - it’s Louise Bourgeois.
It’s called Mother or Maman. (French for mummy)
Its made from a mixture of bronze, stainless steel and marble and stands as one of the world’s largest sculpture’s measuring 30ft high and 33ft long.
Where is the marble I hear you ask? WELL - the work contains a sac of 32 marble eggs in its body which you can see if you stand under the work.
Created in 1999 the artist said:
'The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.’
So, there you go.
It is a symbol of protection and care.
The work here is depicted along outside of Tate Modern after the work was acquired by the gallery in 2008. Before this, the work was held by the National Gallery of Canada which, when acquired caused some controversy as they blew 1/3 of the annual budget to get the work!
It has also had a little bit of a world tour and has been displayed in Stockholm, Bilbao, Hamburg, Zurich, Argentina and Mexico City.
Safe to say, this giant spider has seen more of the world than I have!