Maman (1999) is a bronze, stainless steel, and marble sculpture in several locations by the artist Louise Bourgeois. The sculpture, which depicts a spider, is among the world's largest, measuring over 30 ft high and over 33 ft wide (9.27 x 8.91 x 10.24 metres). It includes a sac containing 32 marble eggs. Its abdomen and thorax are made of rubbed bronze.
The title is the familiar French word for Mother (akin to Mummy or Mommy). The sculpture was created in 1999 by Bourgeois as a part of her inaugural commission of The Unilever Series (2000), in the Turbine Hall at London's Tate Modern. This original was created in steel, with an edition of six subsequent castings in bronze.
Bourgeois chose the Modern Art Foundry to cast the sculpture because of its reputation and work.
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Philosophy and meaning
The sculpture picks up the theme of the arachnid that Bourgeois had first contemplated in a small ink-and-charcoal drawing in 1947, continuing with her 1996 sculpture Spider. It alludes to the strength of Bourgeois' mother with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection. Her mother, Josephine, repaired tapestries in her father's textile restoration workshop in Paris. When Bourgeois was twenty-one, she lost her mother to an unknown illness. A few days after her mother's death, in front of her father (who did not seem to take his daughter's despair seriously), Louise threw herself into the Bièvre River; he swam to her rescue.
The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.
Permanent locations
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada – The National Gallery of Canada acquired the sculpture in 2004 for $3.2 million. The price took around a third of the annual budget of the gallery.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan – On display at the base of Mori Tower, outside the museum.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, United States
Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
Qatar National Convention Center, Doha, Qatar
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, United States
Temporary locations
Tours and featured exhibitions of Maman include:
2001: Rockefeller Center Plaza, New York, United States
2001: City Hall, The Hague, Netherlands
2002: State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2003: Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark
2005: Havana, Cuba
2006: Mariakerke, Ostend, Belgium
2007: Wanås Castle, Sweden
2008: Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France
2008: Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2007–2008: Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, United States 27 March 2007 – 2 March 2008
2008–2009: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy 18 October 2008 – 25 January 2009
2011: Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2011: Museu de Arte Moderna (MAM), São Paulo, Brazil
2011: Bundesplatz, Bern, Switzerland, 24 May – 7 June
2011 Bürkliplatz, Zurich, Switzerland, 10 June – 2 August
2011 Place Neuve, Geneva, Switzerland, 3 August – 28 August
2011–2012 Beyeler Foundation, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, 3 September 2011 – 8 January 2012