The Quartered One

The Quartered One

1964-1965
Artist
Louise Bourgeois, French, American, 1911-2010
Born: Paris, France
Work Locations: United States, France
Country
United States
Object
sculpture
Medium
Patinated bronze
Accession Number
1991.49
Credit Line
Funds From Ginny Williams

Louise Bourgeois, The Quartered One, 1964-1965
Denver Art Museum Collection: Funds From Ginny Williams, 1991.49
(C) VAGA
Photograph (C) Denver Art Museum

Dimensions
height: 62 1/2 in, 158.7500 cm; width: 24 in, 60.9600 cm; depth: 20 in, 50.8000 cm; weight: 540 oz, 15308.4600 g
Edition
4/6
Department
Modern and Contemporary Art
Collection
Modern and Contemporary Art
This object is currently on view
“Mme Bourgeois — charming irony of the name — has never been domesticated. She lives precisely as she works. I have no romantic interest in materials for their own sake. That’s for people without ideas. I don’t make art to communicate or to help but because I can’t process my hang-ups otherwise. And I live in chaos with an unrewarded passion for order.” - Louise Bourgeois, November 1984. The Quartered One, cast in 1990 from a 1965 plaster piece, is part of a series the artist called “Lairs,” which consists of roughly hewn cocoon structures pierced by openings that reveal hollow interior spaces. As the title suggests, it resembles the hind leg of a steer hanging from a chain, ready to be further dismembered and consumed. Yet the exterior has sprouted small pockets and holes, as though to resemble a nest or hive, suggesting that something living might be concealed.
Exhibition History
  • "Retrospectacle: 25 Years of Collecting Modern and Contemporary Art"--Denver Art Museum, 11/16/2002 - 8/3/2003

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