Skip to content

Tate acquires Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider, Maman

Louise Bourgeois's giant spider, Maman

A “Maman” in Ottawa, Canada

Tate acquires Louise Bourgeois’s giant spider, Maman ]]>

January 15th 2008 – Louise Bourgeois is one of the most important living artists, best known for her ‘Cells’, ‘Spiders’ and various drawings, books and sculptures. Her most famous works are possibly the spider structures, titled Maman, from the last dozen years. Now, the Tate Gallery has announced the acquisition of the largest Maman ever created.

The Gallery, in a press note, explains: “Maman, which stands more than nine metres high is a unique steel and marble sculpture from which an edition of six bronzes were subsequently cast by the artist. It first made an appearance as part of Bourgeois’s inaugural commission for The Unilever Series for Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall in 2000. A bronze version of Maman is currently on display outside Tate Modern, as part of the major Louise Bourgeois retrospective which runs until 20 January 2008 and which has proved to be one of the most popular exhibitions of sculpture at Tate”.

Bronze casts of Maman are on permanent display at The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea, MoriArtCenter, Tokyo, Japan and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.

Follow us on:

Tate acquires Louise Bourgeois's giant spider, Maman