The Wick List

Viewing Abstract Erotic at The Courtauld Gallery

The Wick Culture - Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

Above Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

The Wick Culture - Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer

Above Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer

The Wick Culture - Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: The Easton Foundation

Above Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: The Easton Foundation

The Wick Culture - Alice Adams, Threaded Drain Plate, 1964. Zürcher Gallery, New York. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

Above Alice Adams, Threaded Drain Plate, 1964. Zürcher Gallery, New York. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

The Wick Culture - Alice Adams, Sheath, 1964. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

Above Alice Adams, Sheath, 1964. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

The Wick Culture - Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. Private Collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Collection Services © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich

Above Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. Private Collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Collection Services © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich

The Wick Culture - Louise Bourgeois, Tits, 1967. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

Above Louise Bourgeois, Tits, 1967. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

Above Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

Above Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Sarah Muehlbauer

Above Louise Bourgeois, Untitled, 1968. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: The Easton Foundation

Above Alice Adams, Threaded Drain Plate, 1964. Zürcher Gallery, New York. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

Above Alice Adams, Sheath, 1964. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody © Howcroft Photography, Boston

Above Eva Hesse, No title, 1966. Private Collection. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Collection Services © The Estate of Eva Hesse. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich

Above Louise Bourgeois, Tits, 1967. The Easton Foundation, New York. © The Easton Foundation, VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2025. Photo: Christopher Burke

Abstract Erotic

The Courtauld Gallery
20 Jun – 14 Sep 2025

The latest contemporary art exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery brings together three iconic, pioneering women artists working in sculpture: Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse and Alice Adams. This modest but exciting exhibition, Abstract Erotic, touches on the humorous, playful and subversive aspects shared between the sculptors. All three artists were active in New York in the 1960s and their visual language was part of a political and artistic revolution.

Using radical materials for the time like latex and expanding foam, each artist used their work – termed ‘abstract erotic’ by feminist critic Lucy Lippard – to ask important questions about sexuality and bodies in an era where women’s role in society and rights were restricted.

This is the first time the Courtauld Gallery’s have explored sculpture in this way, and includes important loans rarely seen in London from major collections. Suspended, dangling and filling the space they animate the gallery in an entirely new way. In tandem, floor 2 will display drawings by Bourgeois from the 1960s.