As I write this, I sit facing a small print by Louise Bourgeois that hangs in my home office. It is a blood-red flower with a bulbous bloom and four tendrils. Deceptively simple, it makes a strong statement – emotional, suggestive, graphic – and was a Christmas gift from Louise many, many years ago. As we make available to our audiences the documentary Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine, I can’t help but remember the years I spent with Louise as her assistant, which always brings a smile to my face. My work with her began when I was a graduate student in New York and saw an index card pinned to the school bulletin board: “help wanted moving books.” I needed a job, so I called and went to interview at her 20th Street home in Chelsea. I had the charge of organizing Louise’s collection of books on all aspects of women’s work and her late husband’s library of art books. I was immensely happy immersed in all those books on her top floor. Gradually, with the libraries in hand, I moved down to the first floor, working alongside Louise as her personal assistant.

I hope you enjoy the film and the time spent on screen with this extraordinary woman and artist. She was full of spit and spirit, complexity and creativity, humor and hubris, and loyalty and love.