Arch of Hysteria
Polished Bronze
2000
Whitney Museum of Art, New York

        This headless sculpture arches in midair so that the tips of the middle fingers can light on the heels of the feet. It has an acrobatic grace, at the same time it is frightening and in the grip of a fantasy of fear.
        It is spasmodic, the way the body reacts to being tortured without thought or direction from the mind. The head is missing, as if thoughts were not part of this expression. The high polish is disconcerting, and it seems purposeful that Bourgeois is making a point about woman as object. Even in her despair or madness, a woman is examined for her sexuality as an object of desire. Here, the hysterical woman's pose is frozen and polished as a beautiful object.

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