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"Passionate Discontent" is an erudite study of the relationship between gender and genius in late nineteenth-century French Symbolism. Born in an era of crisis, the Symbolist art movement was characterized by withdrawal to a mystical, antibourgeois world of the mind and spirit. While Symbolists idealized the "poete maudit," a creative, mad genius exhibiting an emotional state of heightened awareness and "passionate discontent," female artists displaying similar symptoms were dismissed as hysterical.
Art historian Patricia Mathews traverses the artistic, social, and scientific discourses of "fin-de-siecle" France in order to illuminate the Symbolist construction of a feminized aesthetic that nonetheless excluded female artists from its realm. Along the way, Mathews proffers important new readings of the art of such Symbolists as Gauguin, van Gogh and Moreau, as well as that of their female contemporaries Camille Claudel and Suzanne Valadon. "Passionate Discontent" is an important contribution to art historical and women's studies.
| List of Illustrations | |
| Preface | |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| The Symbolist Aesthetic | p. 5 |
| The Symbolist Aesthetic in Context: Commentary and Critique | p. 29 |
| The Ecstasy and the Agony: Creative Genius and Madness | p. 46 |
| The Gender of Creativity: Women, Pathology, and Camille Claudel | p. 64 |
| Gendered Bodies I: Sexuality, Spirituality, and Fear of Woman | p. 86 |
| Symbolist Women Artists: Practice and Reception | p. 126 |
| Gendered Bodies II: Paul Gauguin | p. 161 |
| Gendered Bodies III: Suzanne Valadon | p. 178 |
| Conclusions and Contiguous Connections | p. 212 |
| Notes | p. 221 |
| Bibliography | p. 281 |
| Index | p. 297 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780226510187
ISBN-10: 0226510182
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 324
Published: 23rd May 2000
Dimensions (cm): 24.3 x 17.4
x 2.731
Weight (kg): 0.752
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