Paul Gauguin [Hardcover]

David Sweetman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 1996

Explores the often contradictory history of artist Paul Gauguin, considering the scandalous rumors that surrounded him, the inspirations for his work, the influences of his contemporaries, and his painful death. 12,500 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sweetman's brilliantly illuminating biography scrupulously lays to rest any number of myths surrounding Gauguin as it dismantles the conventional image of the bourgeois Parisian stockbroker who abandoned his wife and children in search of a Tahitian paradise. By combing the records of the bourse, Sweetman, biographer of van Gogh and Mary Renault, establishes that Gauguin (1848-1903) was not a stockbroker-he was an accountant, an "office-bound drudge" who arranged the paperwork for stock settlements. Far from being a conventional bourgeois, the French painter was raised by his widowed, half-Spanish mother, Aline Chazal, who had been kidnapped and abused by her unstable father and neglected by her mother, Flor Tristan, a socialist revolutionary and one of France's first feminists. Gauguin, who called himself "the Savage from Peru," was taken to Peru when only 18 months old by his parents (his father died on shipboard) and spent the next six years there; his great-uncle was Peru's last viceroy, and Sweetman shows that Gauguin's art synthesized pre-Columbian, Christian and Polynesian myths. Mette-Sophie Gad, Gauguin's mannish, boisterous, gruff, cigar-smoking wife, had separated from the painter before he left for Tahiti in 1891; he mourned the loss of his five children, who, raised in Copenhagen, "were now little Danes with few traces of any Frenchness left." Although Sweetman calls Gauguin a "syphilitic paedophile" who took a succession of Polynesian "child-brides," he rejects feminist assessments of the artist as a sexual tourist and colonialist, arguing that Gauguin celebrated and integrated himself into a disappearing culture on the verge of extinction. Illustrated.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A romantic artist, abandoning everything to seek inspiration in an unspoiled, exotic land; a drug-addicted pedophile escaping jail by dying, at 54, of syphilis; an adventurer, speculator, and exploiter; a representative of the new vision of early 20th-century art...these are the many faces of Paul Gauguin, the myths and the realities examined in this excellent biography. The current perception of this elusive artist is far darker than the brilliant colors of his art, but Sweetman provides a breadth of vision that allows readers to form their own conclusions. With insight and sensitivity, to the art as well as the artist, the author offers that too-rare combination of superb scholarship and nonpolemical literary style. Highly recommended for all art libraries as well as general collections in public and academic libraries.?Paula Frosch. Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684809419
• ISBN-13: 978-0684809410
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Get "Gauguin"!, March 3, 2000

By 

Bruce Loveitt (Ogdensburg, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Gauguin (Hardcover)

I am disappointed to see that this book is out of print but if you have any interest in Gauguin whatsoever, you should try to get your hands on a copy. This is such an excellent book! Mr. Sweetman has clearly done his homework and he writes beautifully. By the time you finish this book you will feel as though you knew Gauguin for, as much as such a thing is possible, Mr. Sweetman gets you inside the artist's head so that you know what he was thinking and what he was feeling at all the important points of his life. The author gives a very balanced view of Gauguin and of the important people in his life, including his wife Mette. Gauguin is not portrayed as a saint. Mr. Sweetman does not let him off the hook for the shabby way he sometimes treated his friends and family. In other words, this behavior is not excused just because Gauguin was a brilliant artist. On the other hand, Gauguin is not demonized for his irresponsible behavior either, as he sometimes could be a caring person and a good friend. Gauguin left notebooks and correspondence, so when Mr. Sweetman gives you his interpretations of the meanings of some of Gauguin's greatest paintings he is not whistling in the dark. Gauguin himself is oftimes present to tell you what he was trying to do. One of the nice things about the book is that it does not focus exclusively on Gauguin. You learn what what was going on in the Paris art world. There is interesting information given about other artists, such as Camille Pissarro and Emile Bernard and you also learn about some of the art dealers, such as Durand-Ruel and Vollard. You are given in depth information of what was going on in the French communities on Tahiti and in the Marquesas. Mr. Sweetman also provides a sympathetic and reasonable explanation for Gauguin's behavior following the death of Vincent Van Gogh. As Mr. Sweetman says in the book, the picture most people have of Gauguin is based almost completely on the portrayal by Anthony Quinn in the 1950's movie "Lust For Life". If you read this wonderful book you will get a much more well-rounded picture of what this very complicated man was truly like.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vivid and disturbing, December 5, 2004

By 

krebsman (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Paul Gauguin: A Complete Life (Hardcover)

This is a disturbing story. My previous knowledge of Paul Gauguin basically came from a subway ad for the New York School of Visual Arts, which stated that at age 35 he was working as a bank teller. Being a late-bloomer myself, I wanted to know more. Although this is a long book (565 pages of text plus notes and index), it never got tiring for me. I remained fascinated all the way through. Gauguin created some wonderful works, but I really would not want to have known him. He comes across as very childish and irresponsible (which is perhaps a characteristic that all artists share to some degree). His journeys to Brittany and the South Seas are rendered in detail as Sweetman unflinchingly documents Gauguin's descent into drug addiction, madness and destitution. Sweetman also deftly analyzes Gauguin's work and the impact of those influences, creating a vivid portrait of the artist and his world. Parts of the book are horrifying, especially the descriptions of Gauguin's syphillis-ravaged body. Gauguin was a strange man and his story is an unsettling one. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. The book has many black-and-white photographs of Gauguin and his milieu as well as color reproductions of several of the works discussed. This book will guarantee a deeper appreciation of Gauguin's work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good; solidly researched, November 23, 2009

By 

SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Gauguin (Hardcover)

In terms of scholarship, this is an excellent biography; it's very thoroughly researched about Gauguin's extended family and his upbringing; his marriage and other relationships. However, there were times that I found the author's voice too intrusive. For instance, when describing Van Gogh's and Gauguin's nine weeks' residence together at Arles, I felt the author needed to stop referring to Van Gogh as a "madman".

Then again, there was some unnecessary speculation regarding Gauguin's allegedly erotic feelings for his little daughter, Aline. I sincerely dislike when quick-fix psychology is used by an author who's 'analyzing' an artist's paintings, and 'meanings' are assigned thereto. One man's: he's-got-a-little-girl-fixation-because-she's-painted-sleeping-in-her-bed-with-her-back-turned-toward-the-viewer, is another's: It's a portrait of a sleeping child. Mary Cassatt once portrayed a little girl who's flopped into an armchair with her legs slightly open; does that portrayal make her a potential pervert, too?

The author seemed to veer from admiration for Gauguin's artistic accomplishments to an almost mocking tone regarding the (again) 'meanings' of the Tahitian paintings (and/or injecting a tone of derision when describing Gauguin's life in Tahiti). My point is, a better biographer would take an objective view of his subject; this one, about 70% of the time, doesn't.

I also wish more, and/or clearer, larger reproductions of Gauguin's work had been included with this volume. Other than these provisos, I found this a well researched and readable biography.