Chapter Seven
PAUL GAUGUIN &
The Colonial Myth of Primitivism
CONTENTS
Introduction
7.1
7.2
Brittany and the Path to Primitivism
7.3
7.4
The Studio of the South and the Volpini Exhibition
7.5
Portraits of the Artist as Other
7.6
Savage Influences: Tahiti 1891
7.7
Fantastical Figures, Scandalous Subjects
7.8
7.9
Existential Manifesto:
Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?
7.10
Exoticism, Eroticism, and Spirituality
7.11
INTRODUCTION
The mythology surrounding Paul Gauguin as an artist-outsider who set out to remedy the failures of western art through his sacrifice and genius was largely self-created and, for decades, perpetuated by art history itself Like all legends with a basis in fact, the myth of Gauguin, the artist has obscured the fuller context of his practice. Now viewed from a contemporary vantage point, his narrative compels reconsideration.
Gauguin created his avant-garde works by rejecting the soulless vacuum of European art to find regenerative inspiration ‘elsewhere.’ He pursued his fascination with the primitivism of distant cultures first in Brittany, then further afield in the Caribbean and the islands of Tahiti and the Marquesas. Away from Paris and the corrupting influence of civilization, he created prolifically: paintings, sculptures, prints and writings, producing works which were profoundly symbolic and technically daring. He engaged with the so-called ‘savage other’ to further his artistic vision, which he articulated in exoticized and mystical images.
While he was not the first European artist to seek foreign stimulus through world travel (Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Léon Gérôme and others had before him), he was unique in his grasping of the aesthetic and myth-making significance of primitive art. His central role in developing Symbolism derived from his interest in telling stories through simplified forms laden with meaning, his influences ranging from South Asian, Egyptian, and Oceanic iconography. His Post-Impressionism was characterized by bold outlines, vivid unnaturalistic colours and semi-abstracted forms, stylistic devices that radically influenced modern art’s parameters and perception.
However, ethical reservations now shadow Gauguin’s pioneering art legacy. His (mis)appropriation of non-western cultural traditions, his predatory sexual conduct, and his colonialist-driven sense of entitlement have spurred new critical discourse about his work across multiple disciplines, from contemporary indigenous polemics to feminist and curatorial studies.
This chapter will examine Gauguin’s art practice from a recontextualized perspective, considering ahistorical viewpoints while investigating the influences and personal ambitions of an artist who foregrounded the modernism of twentieth-century art.
7.1
| Early Influences
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was born to cultured upper-middle-class parents in Paris on June 7, 1848. His father, Clovis Gauguin, was a French journalist; his mother, Aline Maria Chazal, was Franc