Overview

An original study of Gauguin’s writings, unfolding their central role in his artistic practice and negotiation of colonial identity As a French artist who lived in Polynesia, Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) occupies a crucial position in histories of European primitivism. This is the first book devoted to his wide-ranging literary output, which included journalism, travel writing, art criticism, and essays on aesthetics, religion, and politics. It analyzes his original manuscripts, some of which are richly illustrated, reinstating them as an integral component of his art. The seemingly haphazard, collage-like structure of Gauguin’s manuscripts enabled him to evoke the “primitive” culture that he celebrated, while rejecting the style of establishment critics. Gauguin’s writing was also a strategy for articulating a position on the margins of both the colonial and the indigenous communities in Polynesia; he sought to protect Polynesian society from “civilization” but remained implicated in the imperialist culture that he denounced. This critical analysis of his writings significantly enriches our understanding of the complexities of artistic encounters in the French colonial context.

Full Product Details

9780300240597

Table of Contents

Reviews

Taken together, the writings [in Savage Tales] form an episodic account of a complex persona under construction. -Holland Cotter, New York Times Book Review Goddard conveys Gauguin's collage aesthetic and the brilliant symbiosis of word and image through beautiful reproductions of carefully selected album pages, and she demonstrates how this bricolage of motifs, and the process of appropriation, reiteration, fragmentation and repetition are aesthetic strategies shared by the artist's visual and literary oeuvre. -Mary Morton, The Art Newspaper

Goddard is well-versed in the literature on Gauguin . . . [Savage Tales] is lavishly illustrated, and the visual and verbal components complement each other . . . Godard has done the reader a real service. --Nicholas Delbanco, New York Journal of Books

“Taken together, the writings [in Savage Tales] form an episodic account of a complex persona under construction.”—Holland Cotter, New York Times Book Review “Goddard conveys Gauguin’s collage aesthetic and the brilliant symbiosis of word and image through beautiful reproductions of carefully selected album pages, and she demonstrates how this bricolage of motifs, and the process of appropriation, reiteration, fragmentation and repetition are aesthetic strategies shared by the artist’s visual and literary oeuvre.”—Mary Morton, The Art Newspaper CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2020

Author Information

Linda Goddard is senior lecturer in art history at the University of St. Andrews.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available