Gauguin Polynesia - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3777442615 ISBN 13: 9783777442617

Publisher: Hirmer Publishers, 2012

Synopsis

Destitute and discontented with European civilization, post-impressionist Paul Gauguin abandoned France for Tahiti in 1891. He resided in Polynesia for the rest of his life and there created some of his most important works, among them By the Sea, Two Women of Tahiti, Ave Maria, and his 1897 masterpiece Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?  While there have been many biographical and critical studies of Gauguin, few have focused specifically on the extent to which the art and culture of Polynesia influenced his work. Featuring more than sixty of Gauguin’s depictions of Polynesian life, including paintings, sculptures, and sketches of the people and places he encountered there, this book fully articulates the extent of that influence. Alongside Gauguin’s works are an equal number from Polynesian artists that exemplify the dynamic relationship between European and Polynesian art throughout the nineteenth century, as well as the overall development of art in the Pacific during that era. Twelve insightful essays by leading scholars in art history and ethnology shed additional light on Polynesian art before and after Gauguin. A balanced contextual analysis of Gauguin’s works and the Polynesian art that influenced—and were influenced by—them, Gauguin Polynesia promises new and exciting insights into both bodies of work.

About this title

About the Author:

Suzanne Greub is the founder and director of the Art Centre Basel, and the editor of several exhibition catalogs.

Review:

"The contributors to this volume have successfully transformed the often-romanticized topos of Gauguin and the South Seas into a more nuanced assessment of what constituted the Polynesia of the artist's imagination and the one that he actually encountered during his visits and final residence there in the 1890s. The range of inquiry is broad, from Gauguin's introduction to Polynesian culture at the Javanese Pavilion at the Paris World Fair in 1889 to the history of French colonial experience in the South Pacific in the eighteenth century. As a result, the discussion of Gauguin's dependence on indigenous art is precisely informed: often, one is shown what motif from which native artifact Gauguin employs in his painting, scultpture, or drawing. The selection includes a great many unfamuiliar works and numerous contemporary photographs of people and sites that Gauguin knew intimately. This is an important addition to the Gauguin lierature. Highly recommended."
(Choice 2012-09-01)

About this edition

• Publisher: Hirmer Publishers
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 3777442615
• ISBN 13: 9783777442617
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Greub Suzanne