Paul Gauguin: Images from the South Seas. - book review

Arts & Activities, June, 2002 by Jerome J. Hausman

(2001; $9.95), by Eckhard Hollmann. Prestel Publishing, 175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 402, NY 10010.

With the growth of technology and computers, our students are experiencing greater and greater difficulty in understanding and empathizing with artists who lived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There are many artists whose lives are increasingly being seen from a Eurocentric, semantic perspective. One such artist is Paul Gauguin, born in Paris, June, 1848, and died on a small island near Tahiti, May, 1903. Truly, Gauguin is an artist well represented in story and myth: His life and art have been the subjects of books, films and videos.

Paul Gauguin: Images from the South Seas is a well-written, inexpensive publication that focuses more heavily upon Gauguin's life after his tumultuous relationship with Vincent van Gogh. This is when he first moved to Tahiti. The book contains excellent reproductions and photographs that provide insights into his life and art. Also, there is discussion on the writing of his Tahiti journal, Noa Noa, and his later return to France. While he had hoped for substantial and favorable recognition and acclaim, they were not forthcoming. Hence, in 1895, he returned to Tahiti disappointed and reconciled to what he then saw as his ultimate challenge: "I will go back there now. In order to create something new, you have to go back to the original source, and to the childhood of the human race." This is when he completed a huge work (12 feet in length) on canvas: Where Do We Come From? Where Are We? Where Are We Going?--J.J.H. For information about this publication, circle No. 394 on the Reader Service Card.