Thursday, January 08, 2009

Me and Louise

self portrait - age 40

You worry about everything that you do.
You look away from the things that are hard to do.
You are always making excuses for yourself.
You think you are always right.
You lack faith in yourself.
You cannot see the other person's point of view.
You avoid people, live too much within yourself.
You have no aim in life.
You lack outside interest.
You have fits of temper.
You go around with a chip on your shoulder.
You neglect physical health, appearance.
You are not tolerant and have no control of your emotions.
You cannot form friendships.
You are unable to laugh at a situation or at yourself.

From Louise Bourgeois' diary, May 6 and 7 1950

2 comments:

Nellie's Needles said...

wonderful sketch ... harsh self-criticism ... but then there are days when some or all of that can apply to just about anybody ... if they're (we're) truthful

Judy Martin said...

I came across this text when reading a book containing a wide variety of Louise Bourgeois' writings. I was stunned by how much self doubt she seemed to have at the time. She was about age 40 when she wrote these harsh sentences. I assume she was criticizing herself. Now she is one of the most famous artists male or female alive and I bet she still has days when she writes these kinds of things into her journal.