Louise Bourgeois: The Secret of the Cells is the first publication to present an introduction to the stylistic diversity and scope of Bourgeois' work within the context of 20th-century sculpture. This volume focuses on her installations, which she calls "cells". For the first time, all 27 cells -- a cycle which Bourgeois has now declared complete -- are depicted in both full-page and detailed illustrations, as well as being catalogued according to their component parts. The comprehensive narrative on Louise Bourgeois' fascinating life -- the most detailed and extensive to date -- is documented in over 100 photographs from the artist's own archive, many of which have never been published before. These range from her youth in Paris, her student years at the art academy under Ferdinand Leger, and her experiences with the leading artists of the New York School in the 40s and 50s, up to her famous performance, The Confrontation, in 1978. In 1982 the Museum of Modern Art honored Bourgeois in a grand retrospective of her work; in 1992 her installation Precious Liquids caused an international sensation at documenta IX. Her radical re-evaluation of the medium of sculpture, particularly evident in her unusual and unparalleled work of the last 10 years, calls for a thorough review of art in modern times.

Born in 1911 in Paris, Louise Bourgeois was raised in a household that famously included her fathers mistress, who was also Louises nanny. She studied philosophy and mathematics before turning to art in 1934, and over the next few years studied at various art academies and in the atelier of Fernand Léger, among others. She moved to New York in 1938 with her new husband, American art historian Robert Goldwater. Her first U.S. showing was in a print exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, and over the next 50 years, she exhibited consistently in solo and group shows. In 1982, Bourgeois was the subject of the first retrospective ever given to a woman artist at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and her work has remained in the spotlight ever since.

Major review of the sculptures of Susana Lescano (b. Córdoba, Argentina) by one of the leading art historians in Argentina. The book follows her transition from ceramics to monumental concrete work to perforated pieces, bas-reliefs and fragmented components that intriguingly evoke the possibility of putting shattered parts back together again. Her work has been shown at major museums throughout Argentina, Europe and Miami.

Prácticamente desconocida por el gran público hasta la gran retrospectiva celebrada en el Museo de Arte Moderno de Nueva York en 1982, cuando la artista contaba 71 años, la escultura de Louise Bourgeois (París, 1911), de marcado carácter autobiográfico y personal, no es fácilmente catalogable en ningún movimiento ni tendencia establecidos. Según sostiene la propia escultora, toda su producción gira en torno a una suerte de mito fundador: el adulterio de su padre, que introdujo a su amante, una joven institutriz inglesa llamada Sadie, en la casa familiar. De hecho, desde sus primeros dibujos y pinturas de "Femmes-maison" (Mujeres-casa), realizados en los años cuarenta, hasta sus "Cells", instalaciones a modo de celdas o pequeñas habitaciones, de los años noventa, pasando por sus esculturas de yeso y látex de los sesenta o imágenes del cuerpo desmembrado de la década de los ochenta, toda su producción se halla marcada, de una forma u otra, por ese recuerdo de la "traición" paterna. Ello no implica, sin embargo, que la escultura de Bourgeois tenga un significado exclusivamente íntimo o biográfico. Su obra nos desvela las relaciones de poder, la situación de opresión sexual y la experiencia de dolor que anidan en el interior de la familia patriarcal, demostrando en último término que, como subraya el célebre eslogan feminista, "lo personal es político".

Essays by Hal Foster and Carmen Gim nez.