WPI Oral History: Sylvie Crussard on Paul Gauguin

Sylvie Crussard is a Gauguin scholar and leading researcher for the forthcoming volume of the Paul Gauguin catalogue raisonné focused on the artist’s Breton years (1889-1891). Working on the Wildenstein Institute’s Claude Monet catalogue raisonné in the early 1970s was her first job in art history, and she has remained integral to the Institute’s research endeavors ever since. Highlights from her interview with WPI’s Executive Director Elizabeth Gorayeb include her memories of working on the Monet catalogue with researcher Rodolphe Walter, collaborating with Daniel Wildenstein and Douglas Cooper on the early volumes of the Gauguin catalogue, shifts in public perception of Gauguin’s work, and descriptions of her preferred research methods. KEYWORDS: Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Wildenstein Institute, Daniel Wildenstein, Richard Brettell, Douglas Cooper, Rodolphe Walter, Victor Merlhes, Tahitian period, Breton period, Pont-Aven, experimental art, sketchbooks, catalogue raisonnés, provenance research