A great and updated film about Shihuangdi's Terracotta Army. It includes some excellent footage that explains the restoration techniques and fragile state of the paint on the sculptures. There is also some interesting footage of the scientific properties of Chinese purple and a fully painted reproduction of one of the soldiers, showing you just how brightly painted they really were, which is a little shocking if you are not used to looking at painted sculpture. It originally aired on PBS 05/04/11 and is also currently available on Netflix, enjoy! http://video.pbs.org/video/1907176069/
Medium & Size: Bronze, stainless steel, and marble, 29.4 x 32.2 x 38.1’ (8.95 x 9.8 x 11.6 m)
Location: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (Spain)
Bourgeois has said, “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. “
One of the best television series on contemporary art is Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century on PBS. There is an excellent section on Louise Bourgeois that I highly recommend viewing.