Gauguin: Metamorphoses

Description

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Gauguin: Metamorphoses at The Museum of Modern Art, this volume explores the remarkable relationship between Paul Gauguin's rare and extraordinary prints and transfer drawings, and his better-known paintings and sculptures in wood and ceramic. Created in several discreet bursts of activity from 1889 until his death in 1903, these remarkable works on paper reflect Gauguin's experiments with a range of mediums, from radically 'primitive' woodcuts that extend from the sculptural gouging of his carved wood reliefs, to jewel-like watercolour monotypes and large, mysterious transfer drawings. Richly illustrated with approximately 190 works in a range of mediums, Gauguin: Metamorphoses explores the artist's radically experimental approach to techniques and his pivotal place in the history of art. An introductory essay by Starr Figura considers the significance of Gauguin's innovative printmaking and the relationship between his prints and works in painting and sculpture. Elizabeth Childs writes on Gauguin's radical wood sculptures, using them as a touchstone from which to further investigate his peripatetic practice. An essay by Hal Foster addresses Gauguin's 'primitivism' and its aesthetic and cultural implications. An essay by Erika Mosier offers a conservator's insights into Gauguin's unusual printmaking techniques.

Starr Figura is a curator with the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Elizabeth Childs is Department Chair of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. Hal Foster is an American art critic, historian and Guggenheim Fellow; he has taught at contemporary art and theory at Cornell University and Princeton University. Erika Mosier is an associate conservator at The Museum of Modern Art. Lotte Johnson is a curatorial assistant with the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art.

As important as painting obviously was to Gauguin, this exhibit argues that his efforts in printmaking and drawing were just as significant.--Halle Howard "Time Out New York" If you can have only one Gauguin book, the Museum of Modern Art's catalog for its Gauguin: Metamorphoses exhibition last spring is a very strong candidate. It is distinguished by excellent essays by Starr Figura, who organized the show, as well as by Elizabeth Childs, Hal foster and Erika Mosier. Moreover, its multimedia approach places new emphasis on the way motifs migrated among the artist's woodcuts, transfer drawings, carved wood sculpture, paintings and ceramics. The result is a much expanded sense of Gauguin's inventiveness, his working methods and how much he accomplished during his relatively brief maturity.--Holland Cotter "The New York Times"