When I was at the Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday, I came upon this tribute to sculptor Louise Bourgeois, 98, who died on Monday—an installation of these ghostly sentinels at an entrance to the 4th-floor permanent-collection galleries:
Louise Bourgeois, “Quarantania, I,” 1947-53, reassembled by the artist in 1981
In addition to the usual object label, there was this one:
By sheer coincidence, MoMA presented another fitting tribute. Facing the Bourgeois sculpture, through a doorway just across the hall, was this piece by another pioneering woman sculptor, born 19 years later, who also uses biomorphic forms and who even shares Bourgeois’ initials:
Lee Bontecou, “Untitled,” 1980-98
This recently acquired Bontecou is the centerpiece of a dossier exhibition of her work that opened at MoMA in April. The two “LB”s looked at each other (Bontecou’s piece even includes forms that look like eyes) and spoke to each other—across space and generations.