LONDON - Louise Bourgeois’ famous sculpture of a giant spider, Maman 1999, will crawl out onto the north landscape outside Tate Modern on Wednesday 3 October. The arrival of Maman, which stands more than nine metres high, heralds one of the few exhibitions ever mounted to span seven decades of work by a single artist, Louise Bourgeois.

It will be the first time one of Bourgeois’ spiders has been on display outdoors in the UK, giving visitors the chance to walk around the sculpture’s towering legs by the banks of the Thames.

Maman is made of bronze, stainless steel and marble. One of a series of six giant spiders made in the 1990s, the Maman works are the largest group of spider sculptures ever made by Bourgeois. A female spider, this spectacular arachnid alludes to the strength of the mother with metaphors of spinning, weaving, nurture and protection. A version of Maman was part of Bourgeois’ inaugural commission for The Unilever Series for Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall which was installed when the gallery opened in 2000.

Bourgeois says “The Spider is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Like a spider, my mother was a weaver. My family was in the business of tapestry restoration, and my mother was in charge of the workshop. Like spiders, my mother was very clever. Spiders are friendly presences that eat mosquitoes. We know that mosquitoes spread diseases and are therefore unwanted. So, spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother. “

Louise Bourgeois, now in her 96th year, is regarded as one of the most important artists working today. Born in 1911 in Paris, she moved to New York in 1938. She has always been at the forefront of new developments in art, but has pursued a wholly personal path. She has explored her ideas in 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.

Bronze casts of Maman are on permanent display at The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea, Mori Art Center, Tokyo, Japan and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada

Louise Bourgeois has also made five other large scale, freestanding Spider sculptures in bronze editions of six. In addition, she has made 6 bronze editions of smaller Spider wall reliefs, plus a small group of unique and non-editioned Spiders in steel.

Louise Bourgeois, featuring over 200 works, will open at Tate Modern on 10 October 2007 and will run until 20 January 2008. It is supported by Tate Members with additional support from The Henry Moore Foundation.

Visit the Tate Modern at : www.tate.org.uk/modern/