Jean-Louis Bourgeois


Jean-Louis Bourgeois is an author and the son of artist Louise Bourgeois and art historian Robert Goldwater. Bourgeois studied literature and architectural history at Harvard University.
In 1969 and 1970 Bourgeois worked at ArtForum before becoming interested in the production and history of mud brick architecture. He is the author of the volume "Spectacular Vernacular: the Adobe Tradition" which established him as an expert on the subject. He owns a home in Djenne, Mali and has actively been involved in architectural conservation efforts there including the preservation of the world's largest adobe building the Great Mosque of Djenne, and has written extensively on the subject While living in Djennê, Bourgeois opposed the Talo Dam project, and became a fixture in the city's cultural life. He appeared in the 2008 documentary film on his mother . Bourgeois owns an adobe house in Taos, New Mexico and has written on the Southwestern American Indian Adobe tradition
In December, 2016 Jean-Louis Bourgeois announced he was giving his $4 million historical house in New York City to the Ramapough Lenape Native American nation; they intend to use it as a meeting house. The building, located at 6 Weehawken Street in the West Village was formerly a historical public market. The deed has been transferred to a non-profit organization run by the Lenape tribe, who were among the original inhabitants of Manhattan.