Hamilton, Bermuda, August 6th 2002 - ACE Limited is pleased to announce that on Friday, August 9th, an exhibition of the work of Louise Bourgeois will open at the ACE Gallery in the ACE Global Headquarters. The exhibition will feature a small aspect of the contemporary exhibition that appeared at The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg by 90-year-old American artist Louise Bourgeois.
Louise Bourgeois at the Hermitage was the first exhibition of a living American at The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and was welcomed and embraced by the Russian audience which had not experienced such dynamic, cultural exchange for many decades. The exhibition was installed in the Winter Palace from October 2001 to January 2002 and is now travelling to galleries in Finland, Sweden and Norway.
The ACE Gallery exhibition will feature a large-scale photograph of the installation of Maman, a ten metre high cast bronze sculpture that remains in the courtyard of the Winter Palace, three sculptures and a group of drawings extracted from
Louise Bourgeois at the Hermitage.
Julie Sylvester Cabot, Director of Exhibitions at the ACE Gallery, who also serves as Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at The State Hermitage Museum was instrumental in bringing the exhibition together. She explained, "The mission of the exhibition at the Hermitage was to provide visitors with an intimate encounter with the work of Louise Bourgeois and to experience her strong emotions through the gentle power of her sculpture." She continued, "I am honoured and delighted to be able to bring a small part of that vibrant exhibition to Bermuda for the enjoyment of locals and visitors, and grateful to ACE Limited for their sponsorship of the project."
Louise Bourgeois was born in Paris, France in 1911. She studied art at various schools there, including the Ecole du Louvre, Académie des Beaux-Arts, Académie Julian, and Atelier Fernand Léger. In 1938, she emigrated to the United States and continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York. Although she began her career as a painter and engraver, by the late 1940s she had turned her attention to sculptural work, for which she is now recognized as a twentieth-century leader. She was greatly influenced by the influx of European Surrealist artists who immigrated to New York during World War II. Bourgeois's highly idiosyncratic style relies on an intensely personal vocabulary of anthropomorphic forms.
The ACE Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm, Admission free. Groups are welcome and should call for an appointment. Telephone 295 5200. The ACE Gallery, ACE Global Headquarters, 17 Woodbourne Avenue, Hamilton, The Louise Bourgeois exhibition runs until the end of October.
The ACE Group of Companies provides insurance and reinsurance for a diverse group of clients. The ACE Group conducts its business on a global basis with operating subsidiaries in nearly 50 countries. Additional information can be found at: www.acelimited.com.