Louise Bourgeois

LOUISE BOURGEOIS (Paris, 1911–New York, 2010).
“Otte,” 1995.
CD.
Signed and inscribed by the artist on the cover.
Publisher: Delabel (France).
Measurements: 12.5 x 12.5 cm.

A unique sound recording by Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), one of the key figures in 20th-century contemporary art, released in 1995 by the French label Delabel. Conceived more as an extension of her artistic practice than as a conventional musical work, *Otte* reveals a lesser-known facet of the artist: her exploration of the voice, the word, and sound as means of expression. The cover features an illustration by the artist titled *Hamlet and Ophelia*. The CD includes the vocal version of *Otte*, featuring Bourgeois herself, as well as an instrumental version. The composition and arrangements were by Ramuntcho Matta.
The title *Otte* refers to the German composer Hans Otte (1926–2007), a pianist, producer, and radio promoter, as well as the creator of numerous works related to musical theater, sound installations, poetry, drawing, and video. His experimental universe is particularly attuned to Bourgeois’s interdisciplinary approach. The text, conceived by the artist herself and published in 1995, plays with the distortion, repetition, and association of words, occupying a space somewhere between a poem, a recitation, and a song.
The significance of this edition lies particularly in its exceptional nature within Louise Bourgeois’s body of work. Although her work is internationally recognized for her sculptures, drawings, prints, and textiles, *Otte* offers a glimpse into an experimental dimension. The recording was produced by Brigitte Cornand and had a relatively limited distribution, a circumstance that enhances its value as a unique document of Bourgeois’s artistic practice.
After beginning her education with studies in mathematics, Louise Bourgeois soon turned to art and attended various schools and studios in Paris. In 1938, she married the American art historian Robert Goldwater (1907–1973) and moved with him to New York, where she would develop much of her artistic career. Her international recognition reached a turning point with the retrospective dedicated to her by MoMA in New York in 1982 and was further solidified when she represented the United States at the 1993 Venice Biennale. Today, her work is part of the collections of some of the world’s leading art institutions, including MoMA, the Tate Modern in London—which houses works such as *Cell (Eyes and Mirrors)*—and the Guggenheim Museum, as well as numerous international public and private collections.