All About Maud
Maud Morgan (1903-1999), was a well-known and beloved artist of great talent and vibrancy, and an Agassiz neighborhood resident. She lived her life deeply in art, and her spirit continues to inspire and guide Maud Morgan Arts Center.
“Maud Cabot grew up in New York City, where she graduated from Miss Chapin’s School in 1921. She then attended Barnard College. Upon graduating, she moved to Paris to study at The Sorbonne. She travelled throughout the world and met such notable people as Mahatma Gandhi, and travelled Europe with the likes of James Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. She later travelled to Russia to witness and experience communism, and came back to Paris, where she met her husband, Patrick Morgan, an American contemporary artist, whose influence encouraged her to paint. Her marriage to Pat Morgan took place in a lawyer’s office on a snowy day in New York in 1931. She wasn’t very interested in getting married, and thus wanted to minimize the importance of the occasion. Together they moved back to New York City. She absolutely loved living in New York and she could see herself building and continuing her life there.”
“In 1938, Morgan showed her first exhibit, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the Whitney Gallery purchased some of her works.’ Maud also exhibited alongside Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. ‘Just as her career was blooming, she decided to move with her husband to Andover Massachusetts, where he had acquired a teaching position. As a woman artist working in a Boston suburb, away from the New York spotlight, Morgan’s chances for serious recognition became severely reduced.”
Maud was featured in a short film directed by Nancy Venable Raine and Rickie Leacock. The head of the MIT film department when it was published in 1980.
Throughout her career, Maud was a source of inspiration for dozens of artists, both young and old. For women artists, in particular, she served as a role model. She encouraged them to pursue their careers without foregoing the privilege and pleasure of family life. Her joie de vivre was infectious and touched the lives of all who knew her. At the age of ninety-two, still vigorous and eager to explore yet another medium of expression, Maud published her autobiography, Maud’s Journey: A Life from Art.
“Maud, a celebrated 20th century artist, as demonstrated by her works being represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan, MOMA and the Whitney, was a woman who faced life in its totality and with immense courage. She was above all totally honest, as is reflected in her art, and did not brook mendacity in those who approached her. Her legacy to those whom she befriended, and to the many she taught, is one of courage, generosity, honesty, love of life and beauty. Her life continues to be an inspiration for all those who were blessed by her presence, her strength and her honesty.” A friend reflecting Maud’s autobiography
Sources: (Image to the right) Portrait of Maud painted by Wilfred Gabriel de Glehn (British, 1870-1951). Portrait of Maud Morgan 1921. Information about Maud’s early life.