Sainte Sébastienne

Louise Bourgeois

1990

A drypoint with hand additions in which Louise Bourgeois transposes the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian into a sinuous, two‑faced female figure pierced by arrows.

At first glance the spare, almost diagrammatic lines and horizontal arrows feel clinical, but the exaggerated breasts, flowing metallic hair, and a ghostly shadow give the walking figure a startlingly sensual and wounded presence.

A late work that folds bodily vulnerability, maternal and sexual identity, and psychic wounding into a reinterpretation of classical martyr iconography, showing how Bourgeois used printmaking to make intimate psychological states visible.

Palette

Art Terms

Drypoint Print Figurative Feminist art Investigating identity Surrealism Drawing

Exhibitions

Louise Bourgeois

1982

Women of the Nineties: Fin-de-Siècle Prints

1979

Gaugin and his Circle in Brittany: The Prints of the Pont-Aven School

1987

New Acquisitions: Lachaise Torso; Prints

1934