Louise Bourgeois inspires a lot of artists, and her work, its formal resourcefulness rarely camouflaging its sexual and emotional heat, is only the strongest reason: to anyone struggling professionally (the majority of working artists, that is) she is an example of a woman undersung for most of her life yet finally acclaimed. There is hope! her career says. The model, though, makes demands: suppose you’re eventually successful—Will you have the creative restlessness to keep risking new ideas in your mid-eighties? On this score the Bordeaux show—a collection of Bourgeois’ projects from the ’90s, including works from Documenta IX and the 1996 São Paulo Bienal (with perhaps a couple of new things as well)—should prove as intimidating as it will be thrilling.
