Demi Hamilton National Diploma Art and Design 2 Suffolk New College
ID : stu-260033 Tutor: Matt Moseley
Word Count: 516
I decided to write my essay about Meret Oppenheim and her piece of work Object “Tea cup” 1936 and Louise Bourgeois piece of work “Woven Child” 2002 mainly because these two pieces of work looked more interesting to me then the others.
Louise Bourgeois’ “Woven Child” is based on human relations; I think it also might be based on the role of the mother and child; however it might also come under the role of women in human life or the nature of a females life as reproduction plays a big part in the human lifetime. The piece of art is a sculpture but at the same time is a piece of textile work using a wide range of different materials. The materials that are involved are showing the feelings; warmth, intimacy, vulnerability, tenderness, awkwardness and also looking after self and another these feelings play alot on what you feel when looking at the work. The materials used in this range from towels, garments, linens and many more different materials The colours in this piece of work make it eye catching, with the black background the mother and child stand out a little bit more also Bourgeois tries to put across the feeling that people need each other in order to survive a cold world, this is emphasised by the use of the colour blue for the womb.
However in Oppenheim's "object" the piece of work is from the Surrealism movement. Oppenheim’s work was produced in a time of feminist criticism so I believe that this piece of work is based on the female body or even the female role. I’ve been told that the fur cup represents a female’s vagina and if so the piece of work is saying to look past the fur cup and respect women for who they are. However the idea of a fur cup representing a female’s vagina is very strange but at the same time very clever as maybe it is just showing a darker side of surrealism which was going on at the time. The materials used on the piece of work looks as if its animal fur maybe sculptured with wire to create the based or even made with clay for the base. The colours are very dull but at the same time grab the person’s attention, I think this may be because of the contrast going on with different shades of yellows, also I think it stands out its different mainly because when you look at a teacup you don’t expected the fur to be there, so its playing around with the person viewing it.
I believe both pieces of work show something to do with people, mainly females; however they both are based on different subjects. Oppenheim has kept along the lines of representing the anatomy while keeping the eye on the sexism behind the piece itself, whereas Bourgeois has chosen to show the feelings behind her piece with the use of colour and composite materials.
