A nine metre spider is being installed outside the Tate Modern as part of the Louise Bourgeois exhibition. Bourgeois, whose work spans seven decades, has her first outdoors installation with the unveiling of Maman. Crafted from bronze, stainless steel and marble, the sculpture is one of a series of six created by the artist. A female spider, this spectacular arachnid alludes to the strength of motherhood with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection, which is a homage to Bourgeois’ mother, who she says was her ‘best friend….very clever…helpful and protective’.

Louise Bourgeois, now in her 96th year, was born in 1911 in Paris, moving to New York in 1938. Always at the forefront of new developments in art, she has pursued a wholly personal path. She has explored her ideas through painting, printmaking, sculpture, installation and performance, using extraordinarily varied media, from wood and stone to latex and rubber. This breadth of materials is balanced by an almost obsessive continuity of subject matter, deeply autobiographical in its references.

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