Bronze, silver nitrate and brown patina, and granite
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/louise-bourgeois-2351" aria-label="More by Louise Bourgeois" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Louise Bourgeois</a>
Spider
ARTIST ROOMS 
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Easton Foundation 2013

<p>This large-scale bronze spider carries a granite egg in her sack, revealing Bourgeois’s interest in the creature as an image of the strong mother: protector, creator and repairer. In 1995 Bourgeois wrote a poem about her mother, who died when the artist was young. She compares her to a spider, ‘because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and useful as an <span>araignée </span>[spider]. She could also defend herself, and me…’</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2016</em></p>
sculpture bronze silver nitrate brown patina granite
26 October 2013 – 18 May 2014
2014-05-18
26 October 2013 – 18 May 2014
2014-05-18
2013-10-26
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2013-10-26
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois
Collection based display
18 July 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
18 July 2014 – 12 October 2014
2014-10-12
2014-07-18
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Middlesbrough, UK)
http://www.visitmima.com/
2014-07-18
ARTIST ROOMS 2014: Louise Bourgeois
Loan-out
16 January 2015 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
16 January 2015 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
2015-01-16
Southampton City Art Gallery (Southampton, UK)
http://www.southampton.gov.uk/leisure/arts
2015-01-16
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Louise Bourgeois
Loan-out
10 June 2016 – 18 June 2017
2017-06-18
10 June 2016 – 18 June 2017
2017-06-18
2016-06-10
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2016-06-10
ARTIST ROOMS Louise Bourgeois
Collection based display
1 September 2017 – 18 November 2017
2017-11-18
1 September 2017 – 18 November 2017
2017-11-18
2017-09-01
Perth Museum & Art Gallery (Perth, UK)
http://www.pkc.gov.uk/
2017-09-01
ARTIST ROOMS 2017: Louise Bourgeois
Loan-out
23 July 2022 – 6 October 2024
2024-10-06
8 July 2023 – 9 September 2023
2023-09-09
2023-07-08
Grundy Art Gallery (Blackpool, UK)
2 March 2024 – 9 June 2024
2024-06-09
2024-03-02
Aberdeen Art Gallery (Aberdeen, UK)
http://www.aagm.co.uk
2022-07-23
Louise Bourgeois
Loan-out
Spider
object: 2743 × 4572 × 3785 mm, 256kg
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a> 
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Lent by The Easton Foundation 2013

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<p>
<i>Spider </i>is a giant sculpture of an arachnid that stands on the floor. The artwork is made of bronze and granite and was created in 1994 by the French-born American artist Louise Bourgeois. One of the first of many sculptures of spiders made by the artist, <i>Spider</i> measures 2743 x 4572 x 3785 mm, such that it is large enough to occupy the entire space of a room. The body of the spider supports a rounded cage-like structure inside which is held a large white egg. The cage hangs below a cylindrical form, to which are attached eight thin legs stretching out to the floor. Each of the legs is articulated in three sections made of straight rods of bronze, with the exception of one of the legs, where the two sections are bent, creating a semi-circle. The lower parts of seven of the legs end in needle points where the sculpture meets the floor, while the eighth terminates in a small coil. The angularity of the thin legs and their different heights give the impression that the spider is crawling.</p>
<p>In 1995, the year after she made this version of <i>Spider</i>, Bourgeois published the poem ‘Ode to my Mother’ (‘Ode à ma mère’) alongside a suite of nine etchings depicting spiders that were published by Editions du Solstice, Paris. In the poem the artist relates the spider to a maternal figure, her own mother in particular, who was a weaver and the manager of the family’s antique tapestry restoration business:</p>
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</p><blockquote>The friend (the spider – why the spider?) because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and useful as an araignée. She could also defend herself, and me, by refusing to answer ‘stupid’, inquisitive, embarrassing personal questions.<br/>I shall never tire of representing her.<br/>I want to: eat, sleep, argue, hurt, destroy<br/>Why do you?<br/>My reasons belong exclusively to me.<br/>The treatment of Fear.<br/>(Quoted in Tate Modern 2000, p.62.)</blockquote>
<p>The spider is a recurring motif in Bourgeois’s oeuvre. She first depicted it in a small ink and charcoal drawing of 1947 that was also entitled <i>Spider</i>, but the subject began to appear more frequently in her sculptures, drawings and prints in the mid-1990s, and she remained interested in the theme until late in life. The artist made sculptures of arachnids ranging in size from a small brooch to monumental outdoor works measuring over ten metres high. One of Bourgeois’s largest spider sculptures is the iconic <i>Maman</i> (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-maman-t12625" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T12625</span></a>), made of steel and marble in 1999 as part of her Turbine Hall commission for the opening of Tate Modern in London in May 2000. Other versions include <i>Spider I </i>1995 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bourgeois-spider-i-al00353" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AL00353</span></a>).</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>
<i>Louise Bourgeois</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Modern, London 2000.<br/>
<i>Louise Bourgeois: Maman</i>, exhibition catalogue, Wanås Foundation and Atlantis, Stockholm 2007, reproduced p.79.<br/>Ann Coxon, <i>Louise Bourgeois</i>, London 2010.</p>
<p>Natasha Adamou<br/>May 2016</p>
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Summary
2016-06-13T00:00:00
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SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>This large-scale bronze spider carries a granite egg in her sack, revealing Bourgeois’s interest in the creature as an image of the strong mother: protector, creator and repairer. In 1995 Bourgeois wrote a poem about her mother, who died when the artist was young. She compares her to a spider, ‘because my best friend was my mother and she was deliberate, clever, patient, soothing, reasonable, dainty, subtle, indispensable, neat, and useful as an <i>araignée </i>[spider]. She could also defend herself, and me…’</p>
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2016-10-12T00:00:00
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