Yale University Press Announces Publication of "Paul Gauguin: An Erotic Life" by Nancy Mowll Mathews
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Nov. 26, 2001 --Yale University Press has announced publication of "Paul Gauguin: An Erotic Life," a biography of the 19th century post-Impressionist artist, written by Nancy Mowll Mathews of the Williams College Museum of Art.
In this revealing biography, Mathews traces the themes of sex and violence through Gauguin's life, through his tumultuous childhood, to his abusive treatment of his wife, to his sexual encounters in French Polynesia near the end of his life.
The author paints a darker picture of Gauguin than those painted by her predecessors and contemporaries, one in which Gauguin is manipulative, abusive, and intimidating. In doing so, she reveals how Gauguin's complex drives infused and inspired his art. It was Gauguin's ability to draw from his twin drives of sex and violence, Mathews says, that enabled him to develop his greatest works. Gauguin's painting and sculptures are appreciated today for both their beauty and their erotic content. His genius resided not only in his forging of new artistic paths, Mathews concludes, but in his ability to bring his sexual fantasies alive for a large audience.
Mathews' research included autobiographical works, such as "Manao Tupapau (Spirit of the Dead Watching)" and "Noa Noa," as well as letters written by Gauguin and his wife, Mette. A translation by Mathews of many of these letters appears in the appendix of the book, some of which are being published for the first time.
Among Mathews' other contributions to art history are several other books, notably the widely praised "Mary Cassatt: A Life," also published by Yale University Press, and several major exhibitions on Impressionist and post-Impressionist art.
She is the Eugenie Prendergast Curator at the Williams College Museum of Art. She received her B.A. degree from Goucher College in 1968, her M.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1972, and her Ph.D. from New York University in 1980. She has also taught at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and served as curator at the Maier Museum of Art.
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Contact Jo Procter, college news directorDirect phone line: (413) 597-4279email: [email protected]
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