Louise Bourgeois

Since the age of twelve, the internationally renowned sculptor Louise Bourgeois has been writing - writing and drawing. First a diary precisely recounting the everyday events of her family life, then notes and reflections. Destruction of the Father - the title comes from the name of a sculpture she made following the death of her husband in 1973 - contains both formal texts and what the artist calls "pen-thoughts": drawing-texts often connected to her drawings and sculptures, with stories or poems inscribed alongside the images. This book collects both her writings and her spoken remarks on art, confirming the deep links between her work and her biography and offering new insights into her creative thinking and process.

The poetry included in 'To Whom It May Concern' reveals a wealth of mixed and meaningful messages that express the depths of our being and life as a whole in an attempt to get something across to the world.

Though known primarily for her sculpture, Louise Bourgeois has displayed a lifelong passion for drawing and considers it to be essential to her oeuvre. This exceptional book is the first to combine over fifty years of the artist's drawings with her own observations. Not merely preparatory studies for her sculptures, Bourgeois's drawings are fully realized, independent works of art that rank as some of her most powerful and emotive creations. In the text accompanying the illustrations, Bourgeois, a highly autobiographical artist, describes and explains the sources for each work - and in the process provides fascinating insights into her life and art.