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Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois

Tracey Emin, a female artist wearing a black fleece fleece jacket over a dark top smiles. Behind her, out of focus, is a piece of artwork
Tracey Emin. Screengrab from Southbank Centre produced video

Known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork, Tracey Emin has been at the forefront of British art since the 1980s.

But the focus of this video is not Emin, but of her inspiration, her friend, and collaborator, Louise Bourgeois. 

Emin discusses how the intellectuality of Bourgeois work has enabled it to maintain its relevance across generations, and how she maintained her own individual approach despite a life lived through so many different artistic directions. And Emin talks of meeting and working with Bourgeois, and the impression that made on her.

Tracey Emin, a female artist wearing a black fleece fleece jacket over a dark top sits on a chair in her studio. Behind her three large canvases lean against a studio wall
Tracey Emin. Screengrab from Southbank Centre produced video

‘Louise knew Andy Warhol. Léger was her tutor. Monet was alive when she was alive. Picasso was alive when she was alive. Louise lived through all these different periods of art history, yet continued to make her own work, with her own sense of vision’.

Tracey Emin on Louise Bourgeois

 

The first major retrospective of the artist to focus on her later fabric works, Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child was at Hayward Gallery 9 February – 15 May 2022.

Man looking up at multicoloured ceramics installed on wall. Installation view of Betty Woodman, Strange Clay Ceramics in Contemporary Art at the Hayward Gallery.
Installation view of Betty Woodman, Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art at the Hayward Gallery. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the Hayward Gallery.
Art & exhibitions at the Southbank Centre

From internationally acclaimed artists at Hayward Gallery, to pop-up installations, showcases and immersive experiences, enjoy an engaging and inspiring array of art and exhibitions with us.