The Genesis of a Work of Art

On 22 April 1950, a panel discussion took place over several days amongst a group of artists, writers, and curators, moderated by Robert Motherwell, the transcript of which was first published in Modern Artists in America, no. 1, 1950. 

On the third day of the discussion, Motherwell opened with the following remarks before reading aloud questions written by the artists.

Motherwell: "The questions we all have written  down fall into three categories, though they overlap. One is a series of questions that are historical, which Grippe, Ernst, Hare, Reinhardt, Rarr, and Gottlieb ask; the largest number of questions are strictly aesthetic questions, about the process of creation and about the quality of creative works—the questions of Ferber, Hare, Raziotes, Lippold, Smith, Sterne, Hoffman, Riala, Lassaw, and Bourgeois. 

Five people, Pousette-Dart, Lipton, Tomlin, Newman, and Rrooks, have asked an identical question: a question of community— "what is it that binds us together (if there is something that binds us together)? Would you like me to read all the questions, either anonymously or signed?"

The artists unanimously agreed to have them read aloud by Motherwell attributed to the author of the question.

The following is the question proposed by Louise Bourgeois.

The Genesis of Work of Art; or in what circumstance is a work of art born:

1. Definition of the term "genesis"- process of creation. Is it the process of being born or the process of giving birth?

2. What causes the work of art to be born? What is the primary impulse? What makes the artist work? Is it toescape from depression (filling a void)? Is it to record confidence or pleasure? Is it to understand and solve a formal problem and reorder the world?

3. What conditions the birth and growth of the work of art?

1. (a)  Before the act of creation:
   Sociological aspect (surroundings and milieu). Taine ato theory of the milieu.
   Personal aspect.

2. (b)  During the process of creation:
   Experience undergone while the work is being done. Resistance of the medium.
   Properties of the medium.

   
   

   Louise Bourgeois, DESTRUCTION OF THE FATHER, RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FATHER. WRITINGS AND INTERVIEWS 1923-1997