Aziz Art January 2019

She continued to study art by
joining classes where translators
were needed for English-speaking
students, in which those
translators were not charged
tuition. In one such class Fernand
Léger saw her work and told her
she was a sculptor, not a painter.
Bourgeois graduated from the
Sorbonne 1935. She began
studying art in Paris, first at the
École des Beaux-Arts and
École du Louvre, and after 1932
in the independent academies
of Montparnasse and
Montmartre such as Académie
Colarossi, Académie Ranson,
Académie Julian, Académie de la
Grande Chaumière and with
André Lhote, Fernand Léger, Paul
Colin and Cassandre.
Bourgeois had a desire for firsthand
experience, and frequently
visited studios in Paris, learning
techniques from the artists and
assisting with exhibitions.
Bourgeois briefly opened a print
store beside her father's tapestry
workshop. Her father helped her
on the grounds that she had
entered into a commerce-driven
profession.
Bourgeois emigrated to New York
City in 1938. She studied at the Art
Students League of New York,
studying painting under Vaclav
Vytlacil, and also producing
sculptures and prints.
"The first painting had a grid: the
grid is a very peaceful thing
because nothing can go wrong ...
everything is complete. There is no
room for anxiety ... everything has
a place, everything is welcome."
Bourgeois incorporated those
autobiographical references to her
sculpture Quarantania I, on display
in the Cullen Sculpture Garden at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Middle years
For Bourgeois the early 1940s
represented the difficulties of a
transition to a new country and the
struggle to enter the exhibition
world of New York City. Her work
during this time was constructed
from junkyard scraps and driftwood
which she used to carve upright
wood sculptures.