I recently read a post on the books arts listserv about an exhibition of fabric books by Louise Bourgeois. Since I didn’t know her bookwork, I poked around a bit to find out more. The spread to the left is from Ode à l’Oubli — what I especially like is that the sewing from the previous page shows through the back of the fabric sheet. Follow this link to see all the spreads. And this article from the NY Times talks about Ode à l’Oubli (“Ode to Forgetfulness”), “her 36-page fabric-on-fabric book, (with) an extraordinary and poignant object: a tactile diary of the long, trans-Atlantic, unusually examined life of the artist.” There’s also a book of her fabric-based work.
Thank you for this – as an admirer of Bourgeois who is beginning to explore making fabric books, it was timely and very welcome!
I got the chance to see Bourgeois’ “Ode a la Bièvre” in person this summer, and was absolutely struck by it. I think the gallery assistants were worried I was going to run off with it. The thought crossed my mind.