Artists looking at art, part 1

Last weekend my friend and fellow fiber artist, Linda DeMars, and I traveled to New York City on a mission:  to see as much art as possible in four days.  We visited the 9/11 memorial and museum, the Guggenheim, the Cloisters, MoMA, the Met, and we walked the High Line.  Even venues we didn't expect to feature art, like the 9/11 museum and the High Line, had wonderful work.  I think I can speak for Linda too when I say we returned to Atlanta feeling humbled, awed, and inspired.  And energized!

We saw the famous unicorn tapestries at the Cloisters, the Met's collection of medieval art.  I could have spent all afternoon marveling at the fine scale of the weaving and studying the details of the foliage, the faces and the animals in these tapestries.  They are justly famous, and the colors still so vivid, considering these were made 500 years ago.  (Who says textiles don't last?) The symbolism of the unicorn and the meaning of the series as a whole are still debated endlessly.  At least for me, that mystery is part of the spell they cast.  We see an enchanted world we don't quite understand.

The Unicorn in Captivity, wool, silk and silver and gilded-silver wrapped thread
South Netherlandish, c. 1495-1505

detail, The Unicorn in Captivity

detail, The Unicorn Purifies Water,
wool, silk and silver and gilded-silver wrapped thread
South Netherlandish, c. 1495-1505

When you look at that much art in a few days, synchronicities are bound to occur.  That evening we went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see the show of Louise Bourgeois' work. . .  and the centerpiece of the show featured fragments of old tapestries.  In this piece Bourgeois combined her famous spider motif with another motif she explored, the cell.  Like the unicorn tapestries, it's a mysterious object with layers of symbolism and mythic power.

Louise Bourgeois Spider(Cell), 1997

detail, Louise Bourgeois Spider(Cell), 1997 

Bourgeois grew up in a French family that repaired and restored tapestries, and she learned the skills of weaving and stitching from an early age.  While she is best known for her monumental spider sculptures (which are homages to her mother, a weaver like the spider), Bourgeois also worked with fabric near the end of her career.  She transformed her own clothing and household textiles into fabric collages, sculptures, and books.  I found a children's book, Cloth Lullaby:  The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois, written by Amy Novesky and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault.  I loved this page:

The book's writer and illustrator were inspired by Louise Bourgeois, who was inspired by countless tapestry artists.  And I am inspired by them all.  Next time I'll share my take on the David Hockney show at the Met.  He was another artist inspired by artists.