Gauguin and Polynesia by Nicholas Thomas

Gauguin and Polynesia by Nicholas Thomas

A richly illustrated reassessment of one of the most controversial Post-Impressionist artists, Paul Gauguin, exploring his work in the context of the Polynesian islands where much of it was created.

Imagine a book about Gauguin written by someone who truly knows, first hand, the Pacific islands, their history, their culturesImagine an author capable of looking at Gauguin’s paintings not as illustrations of ‘primitivism’ or ‘colonialism’ but as attempts – failures, successes, improbabilities – to come to terms with another way of life. This is the book. There is no other like it. * T. J. Clark, art historian and author of The Painting of Modern Life *
Refreshingly original, Gauguin and Polynesia is an impressive and deeply engaging dive into aspects of Gauguin’s oeuvre that have largely evaded discussion and analysis. Guiding the reader through a crisscrossing series of historical trajectories and personal encounters, the author leans confidently into the puzzling contradictions and ambiguities that have intrigued Gauguin’s admirers and detractors alike, deploying paintings, people and places as sites of connection. A crucial addition to the literature, this remarkable volume draws on the unique vantage point of Indigenous histories and the powerful spiritual agency of the Islands to reveal a penetrating glimpse of life in Polynesia as it might have been for Paul Gauguin. Pointing to saliences and possible confluences, Thomas offers readers a compelling and imaginative analysis of Gauguin – one that illuminates and heightens our understandings yet leaves things open, fugitive and deliciously unresolved (just as the artist himself would have it). * Maia Nuku, Metropolitan Museum of Art *
This brilliantly argued book by a distinguished anthropologist and historian of Oceania offers new perspectives on a figure until now understood through a Western-centred history of art. Drawing on ethnographic and historical sources, local knowledges and the experiences of Pacific artists, he reopens our response to many familiar paintings, complicating the ideas of primitivism, cultural appropriation, and sexual exploitation that currently frame discussions of Gauguin. By showing both Europe and Oceania in transformation, their histories dialectically linked, Thomas crafts a complex realism – a model for studies of travelling art and artists in an uneven modernity. * James Clifford, author of The Predicament of Culture *
PRAISE FOR VOYAGERS 'Takes readers on a narrative odyssey' Wall Street Journal, Books of the Year 'Highlights a dizzying burst of new research' The Economist 'A refreshing addition to the canon of literature that contemplates Oceanic navigation' Noelle Kahanu 'I would not be surprised if, after reading this masterpiece, many readers are compelled to take up voyaging themselves' Science Magazine ‘An elucidating, accessible, and well-illustrated guide to the long history of Oceanic settlement and connections' * Minerva Magazine *

Nicholas Thomas first visited Polynesia in 1984 to undertake research in the Marquesas Islands. He has since travelled extensively in the Pacific, and written on Indigenous histories, empire and art; his books include Entangled Objects (1991), Islanders: The Pacific in the Age of Empire (2012), which was awarded the Wolfson History Prize, Oceanic Art (2018), Gauguin and Polynesia (2024), and several collaborative books with artists including John Pule and Mark Adams.

Oceania, which Thomas co-curated with Peter Brunt for the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris in 2018–19, was acclaimed as a landmark exhibition. He has also written on contemporary art, museums, and heritage issues for the Financial Times, The Art Newspaper, Apollo, Artlink and Art Asia Pacific among other magazines and journals.

Since 2006, he has been Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781801105231
ISBN 10	1801105235
Title	Gauguin and Polynesia
Author	Nicholas Thomas
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2024-02-01
Number of pages	464
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.