Informed contemporary art followers, however, will not discover any fresh perspectives on Bourgeois's work. As its title intimates and an introductory wall text makes clear, the exhibition's purpose is, in large part, to showcase pieces from Boston art collections and one collection in particular: that of Barbara Lee , a trustee and major benefactor of the ICA. Lee has lent eight sculptures, and she will also contribute a set of eight drawings that will be on view from May 22 to Aug. 26. Significant works from two other collections owned by ICA supporters -- those of Sandra and Gerald Fineberg and Marlene and David Persky -- are also included.
The event is, in other words, a thank-you gift from the ICA to some of its most important patrons, one that both honors them and enhances the value of their collections. In this regard, it raises concerns about how the ICA is pursuing its mission.
Organized by ICA assistant curator Emily Moore Brouillet , the show is nicely installed in gray-walled galleries. Besides the gargantuan spider, exemplary pieces from several phases of Bourgeois's career indicate how resourcefully and daringly she has explored relations between abstraction and surrealism.
An elegant white sculpture from the late '40s is like a cross between a tribal totem and Brancusi's poetic minimalism. Also from this period is a haunting, brusquely made painting on canvas depicting a big room with a circus wagon in the center and a scary, spectral presence hovering above a spiral balustrade to the left. Bourgeois titled it "1932" -- the year of her mother's death.
Works from the '60s show Bourgeois's turn toward more traditional sculptural techniques and erotically provocative imagery. Dangling from a wire, a well-known Freudian nightmare of a bronze called "Janus Fleuri" resembles two severed breasts or oversized penises glued back-to-back. "Germinal," which is delicately carved from white marble, has smooth forms like teats protruding from a tilted bowl shape.
