+

Louise
Bourgeois

Data Analysis of an Artist’s

Lifeworks
MBA in Arts and Cultural Management
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Presentation Overview
n  Louise Bourgeois - Heritage and
Contribution

n  Louise Bourgeois and the Global Art

Market

n  Louise Bourgeois and Exhibitions

n  Louise Bourgeois and Contemporaries

n  Louise Bourgeois and Spiders

n  Louise Bourgeois and the Press

n  Summary and Conclusions

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Louise Bourgeois - Heritage

and Contribution  
+
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois
25 December 1911 (Paris) – 31 May 2010 (New York)
A renowned French-American artist and sculptor, one of the
most important and groundbreaking artists in modern and
contemporary art.  
+
Artistic Themes  
Her work was wholly autobiographical, inspired by her childhood trauma
of discovering that her English governess was also her father’s mistress.  
+
Artistic Themes  
§  The anthropomorphic shapes her pieces take are charged with
sexuality and innocence and the interplay between the two.
§  Her work has traversed Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and
Minimalism, oscillating between abstract geometry and organic
reality, escapes all attempts at artistic classification
§ 
+
Confessional Art  
§  Recognized as the founder of
Confessional Art

§  Uses poetic objects and

metamorphosis to articulate her
unique past and memories

§  Linking and articulation are the

original processes of
metamorphosis in her work  
+
“My childhood has never lost its magic, it has never lost its
mystery, and it has never lost its drama.”  
+

Louise Bourgeois and the

Global Art Market
+
Key Events Between 1990-2010

1993 – Excluded 2000 – Maman

1998 – Receives
from Royal was installed at
Venice Biennale
Academy of Arts the opening of
Golden Lion
survey of 20th c. Tate; tours the
award
American art world

Source: http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/lb/about/chronology
+
Key Events Between 1990-2010

2007 - Retro
2008 – Retro
exhibit at Tate;
2001-2003 – exhibit in
tours
Global recession Guggenheim NY
internationally
and Beaubourg
between ‘07-’10
+
Key Events Between 1990-2010

2008 - French
President
2010 – Dies in
Sarkozy awards 2009 – Global
New York, aged
her the Medal of recession
98
the French Legion
of Honor
+
LB Sales vs Contemporary Art Market
18000000
16000000 Top 5
14000000
12000000
2008
10000000
8000000
16,975,364
6000000
4000000 2011
2000000 16,852,300
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
2012
16,800,333

2006 TREND
7,459,729 Louise B
our
auction geois’
r
2007 closely esults
5,069,616 followe
the art d
market
’s

Source: http://imgpublic.artprice.com/pdf/artprice-contemporary-2011-2012-en.pdf
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Sold to Unsold Ratio Worldwide
Top 5
100.00% Lowest
90.00%
2009
80.00% 86.84%
70.00%
60.00% 2010
50.00% 80.00%
40.00% 2011
30.00% 70.37%
20.00%
THOUG
2012
10.00% HT
Some
68.49%
0.00% artwork
s may
have be
2013
en
ov63.16%
er value
d
+
Implications of Low Sold-Unsold Ratio

n  The
outcome of sale is highly determined by the auction
house where the sale is arranged (some auction houses
attract higher-valued art)

n  Failure
to sell at an auction can possibly lower the price
of the artwork in future sales – Resellers of LB artworks
should watch out

http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/Research/wp/pdf/paper272.pdf
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1692205
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Top 3 Auction Houses Sold-Unsold Ratio

100.00%

95.00%

90.00%

85.00%

80.00%

75.00%
Christie's Sotheby's Phillips de Pury &
Company
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Louise Bourgeois and Exhibits

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Shows vs Sales (Worldwide)
Exhibitions Per Year
80 Top 5
70
60
50 2009
40 68
30
20
10
2011
0 63

2010 THOUG
H
Total Sales Worldwide 62 2009 – T
18000000 exhibits most
b
sales b ut low
16000000
14000000
2008 ecause
12000000 57 global of
cr
10000000
Recessio isis.
8000000
2012 n tops
6000000 exposu
4000000 55 re.
2000000
0
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
+
Exhibitions vs Sales - Top 5 Countries
350
300 Exhibitions
250 •  USA 318
200 •  Germany 101
150 •  France 52
100
•  United Kingdom 52
50
0
•  Switzerland 34

70000000
60000000 Sales (USD)
50000000 •  USA 65,075,280TREND
40000000 •  United KingdomNum ber of
9,689,091
exhibits
•  France 8,994,309
30000000
in
20000000 ountry a a
•  Switzerland c237,846
sales – nd
10000000 •  Germany 132,227 m
0 strong r ostly
elation.
.
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Louise Bourgeois and

Contemporaries
+ Kiki Smith

n  B. 18 January 1954 (Nuremberg,

Germany)

n  American feminist artist

n  Body Art: undermines the traditional

erotic representations of women by male
artists and exposes the inner biological
systems of females as a metaphor for
hidden social issues.

n  Themes: birth and regeneration,

sustenance, Catholic allusions.

Née, Kiki Smith

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Sales of Kiki Smith & L. Bourgeois
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Jackson Pollock
n  In 1954: Bourgeois joined the
American Abstract Artists Group
(Barnett Newman and Ad
Reinhardt).

n  Befriended Willem de Kooning,

Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock.

n  Pollock: American painter and a

major figure in the abstract
expressionist movement.
n  Style: drip painting
Figure 1. Jackson Pollock's ‘Convergence’ (1952),
237.5cm×393.7cm, oil on canvas. © 2009 The
Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York.
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Sales of Jackson Pollock & L. Bourgeois
+ Cindy Sherman

n  B. 19 January 1954

n  American photographer and film

director, best known for her
conceptual portraits.

n  Questions role and representation of

women in society, the media and the
nature of the creation of art.

n  Her photographs are some of the

most expensive photographs ever
sold.
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Sales of Cindy Sherman & L. Bourgeois

500000
450000
400000
350000
300000
250000 Sherman
200000 Bourgeois
150000
100000
50000
0
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
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Bruce Nauman
n  B. 6 December 1941

n  contemporary American artist.

n  Media: sculpture, photography,

neon, video, drawing, printmaking,
and performance.

Bruce Nauman, Seven Figures, 1985,

neon light, 127 x 457 x 7 cm,
collection Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam. c/o Pictoright Amsterdam
2011.
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Sales of Bruce Nauman & L. Bourgeois

800000
700000
600000
500000
400000 Nauman
300000 Bourgeois
200000
100000
0
1986
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
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Louise Bourgeois‘ Spiders

‘Spider Woman’
 "The spiders,
which are portraits of my mother,
are large because she was a monument to me.
I want to walk around and be underneath her
and feel her protection."

Rachel Cooke, The Observer, 14 October 2007

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Louise Bourgeois‘ Spiders

n  Created between 1995-2004

n  12 spiders sold in auctions

n  USD 8,500 (2006) – USD 9.5M (2011)

n  10 x 17 cm – 338 x 668 x 633 cm

n  2 spiders unsold

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Fun Facts

2006 – Louise
2008 – Broke her
Bourgeois became 2011- Sold
own record by
the highest-paid highest-priced
selling another
living woman artist Spider yet (USD
Spider (USD 4m at
with Spider (USD 9.5m at Christie’s)
Christie’s)
3.6m at Christie’s)
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Bourgeois‘ Top 10
10000000

9000000

8000000

7000000

6000000

5000000

4000000

3000000

2000000

1000000

0
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Spider (1997)

n  Created in 1997

n  Sculpture (Bronze)

n  Size: 238,7 * 243,8 * 213,3 cm

n  9 November 2005 (Sotheby‘s): USD 2.7m

n  15 November 2006 (Christie‘s): USD 3.6m

n  Return on Investment: 33.33 %

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Spider (1997) – Estimated value 2014

14000000

12000000

10000000

8000000

6000000

4000000

2000000

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Estimated value 2014: USD13.2m

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Spider (1997) – Estimated value 2014

14000000 13,199,040

12000000

10000000

8000000

6000000

4000000 3,600,000
2,700,000
2000000
2005 2006 2014
0

In ~10 years + ~500 % value

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Spider IV (1998)

n  Created in 1998

n  Sculpture (Bronze)
n  Size: 203,2 * 180,3 * 53,3 cm

n  9November 2004 (Sotheby‘s): USD 1,000,000

n  12 November 2013 (Christie‘s): USD 6,885,000 Premium price
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Spider IV (1998)
8000000
6,885,000
7000000 Premium price

6000000
5000000
4000000
3000000
2000000
1,000,000
1000000
0 2004 2013

In 9 years + ~688 % value

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Louise Bourgeois and the Press

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What’s worth
getting into?
§  Her appearances in
the press since 1980
§  In which publications
does she appear most,
and why
§  Comparison of
exposure in different
languages, and why
§  Comparison of prices
and volume in the
press, and why
 +

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
Press Appearances Worldwide

2006
2008
2010
2012
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Top Publications Worldwide

800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
+ Publications in Various Languages
Gesamtergebnis
Anglais
2012
2010 Catalan
2008 Chinois (Simplifié)
2006
Chinois (Traditionnel)
2004
2002 Danois
2000 Espagnol
1998 Français
1996
1994 German
1992 Italien
1990 Japonais
1988
1986 Néerlandais
1984 Norvégien
1982 Polonais
1980
Portugais
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
 0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1980
1981
1982
1983

0
5000000
10000000
15000000
20000000

1984
1985
1986 1990
1987 1991
1988
1989 1992
1990 1993
1991 1994
1992 1995
1993 1996
1994 1997
1995 1998
1996
1997 1999
1998 2000
1999 2001
Total Sales

2000 2002
2001
Total Number of Words

2003
2002 2004
2003
2004 2005
2005 2006
2006 2007
2007 2008
2008 2009
2009 2010
2010
2011 2011
2012 2012
2013 2013
+ Price vs Volume of Publications Worldwide
+
Summary and Conclusions
n  Her auction results closely followed the world market (i.e. sales plunged
in 2003 and 2009 during recession).

n  Across mediums, genders, and international auction sales, Louise

Bourgeois has established herself as one of the highest-selling female
artists in the world.

n  Her Spiders are not only her most popular but also her most expensive
artworks with a still increasing market value. They make for a good
investment.

n  We can pinpoint her international breakthrough from the creation of

her Spiders, c. 1995, as proven by her exposure in the press.

n  An increase in sales was most probably influenced by both a rise in the
number of her exhibitions and publications (among other factors), as in
2008.
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Louise
Bourgeois

Presented by
Data Analysis of an Artist’s
Yana Barinova Lifeworks
Nikolai Kleist Burkal
Malaya del Rosario
Barbara Palier
Katherine Tuider