Interview with Maggie Wright, Louise Bourgeois Archive, The Easton Foundation

Abstract The Louise Bourgeois Archive (LBA) was established by The Easton Foundation, a charitable and non-profit organization put in place more than thirty years ago by the artist Louise Bourgeois. Since her death in 2010, the Foundation exists as two spaces that are simultaneously distinct and interlinked: one is the former artist’s home and studio and the other, housed in the building next door to Louise Bourgeois’s townhouse, is the LBA. A research centre aimed at academic and art-world scholars, it is directed by Maggie Wright, who is also leading ongoing efforts to catalogue Louise Bourgeois’s vast collection of personal documents, a monumental enterprise in both scale and ambition. Academic and curatorial research into a late artist’s work requires dialogue and collaboration with the artist’s estate. The way scholars and curators interact with an institution set up to protect and promote the work of an artist is central to guaranteeing independent research work. Yet, the nature of these relationships is rarely commented upon, and the role played by artists’ estates often remains out of sight. Wright has agreed to be interviewed as part of this issue devoted to Louise Bourgeois’s archival writings and documents. The interview was carried out by email exchanges between January and April 2019. Wright’s description of the LBA details this emerging archival corpus ripe for scholarly exploration. The interview also provides a clear and extensive overview of the predetermined functions and roles of the LBA, giving an insider’s view into the workings of an artist’s archives and some of the ambitions and challenges that have determined the focus of this particular archive.