Louise Bourgeois, designer (American, born France, 1911–2010); Chus Burés, maker (Spanish, born 1956), Shackle Neckpiece, sterling silver, forged, and drilled, designed about 1947–48; made 1998–99. 6 7/8 x 7 5/16 in. Jewelry Gallery (Gallery 34)
Louise Bourgeois designed this necklace as a personal statement against the violence she had witnessed against prisoners during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), who were asphyxiated by shackles of this shape. It was also designed as a comment about the female state, a metaphor for the social, political, and legal constraintsof women before the feminist movement.
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Beautiful and horrible; eerily compelling.