Gauguin: Maker of Myth

The perfect gift for anyone who has imagined that Gauguin painted what he saw, or that the islands and their people were beautiful and unspoiled in his time there. Instead, fully an artist, he greatly transformed what he saw, not to reveal its truth -- something nasty that he treated amply in his writings -- but to over-paint it into a thing of beauty.

It is a very nice gift book, But for my needs, I was hoping for a book with more illustrations of all his work .

THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION OF REPRODUCTIONS OF GAUGUIN'S GLORIOUS ART THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN.THE IMAGES ARE ALMOST TACTILE. THE TEXT IS WELL-WRITTEN AND ABSORBING.

beautiful book.

This book is the catalogue for the current Tate Modern exhibition that will later travel to Washington, D.C. In spite of the fact that there has recently been a spate of exhibitions (in the U.S., France and even Italy)trying to debunk the myth surrounding the artist (a myth partly originated from his own self-promotional skills)the text is very interesting in that it succeeds in deciphering Gauguin's views of the world he lived in, the effect those views had on his art, his attitude towards other cultures, towards the otherness, whether religious or racial.There are several essays tackling such themes as Martinique, the "Primitive", the exoticism (through Gauguin's missed encounter with French writer and early advocate of cultural diversity Victor Segalen who visited Polynesia in 1903, three months after the artist's death). There is also an interesting article by French critic Philippe Dagen (from the newspaper Le Monde)on Gauguin's relationship with politics and the way his political ideas transpire in his art, which, to my knowledge, is the first text that has been written on the subject.Now, the only qualification I would make is on the quality of the numerous color illustrations, which are sometimes too small or sometimes too dull (not always though: about a third of the reproductions are of a good quality, strangely enough). Therefore, 4 stars instead of 5...

Excellent book.

...a great compendiun of G`s paintings . Precise and clear the written layout is valuable to all readers. Excellent reference or background source.