46 7/8 x 36 7/8 inches (119.1 x 93.7 cm)
Edition of 50
This work can be seen as a monumental self-portrait by Louise Bourgeois, representing pain that she experienced from personal attacks.
Bourgeois references the Christian martyr, Saint Sebastian, a famous subject in the history of art and literature. Saint Sebastian has been portrayed by artists as varied as Durer, Titian, El Greco, Mantegna, Daumier and Egon Schiele. Saint Sebastian is traditionally portrayed as a handsome young man, shot with arrows against a tree. Here Bourgeois creates Sainte Sébastienne in a female form, whose flesh seems to be made of wooden rings.
According to the artist, “She is aware of the hostility somewhere. The arrows are from the outside... they are not inner... this is not stress. She is bewildered by what happened... she does not know what to do. When you get angry you become ugly... you lose your hair. The profound effect of the arrows... the sharp criticism... makes her defensive. The state of defensiveness makes her self-criticizing, self-destroying, self-mutilating. Cutting you hair... that is the equivalent of cutting off your head... it is masochistic. Then you are not desirable." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. The Prints of Louise Bourgeois. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 177).
According to the artist, “She is aware of the hostility somewhere. The arrows are from the outside... they are not inner... this is not stress. She is bewildered by what happened... she does not know what to do. When you get angry you become ugly... you lose your hair. The profound effect of the arrows... the sharp criticism... makes her defensive. The state of defensiveness makes her self-criticizing, self-destroying, self-mutilating. Cutting you hair... that is the equivalent of cutting off your head... it is masochistic. Then you are not desirable." (Quote cited in Wye, Deborah and Carol Smith. The Prints of Louise Bourgeois. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1994, p. 177).
46 7/8 x 36 7/8 inches (119.1 x 93.7 cm)
Edition of 50