Savage Tales by Linda Goddard
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.
“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
“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
Linda Goddard is senior lecturer in art history at the University of St. Andrews.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780300240597 |
| ISBN 10 | 0300240597 |
| Title | Savage Tales |
| Author | Linda Goddard |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Yale University Press |
| Year published | 2019-09-10 |
| Number of pages | 208 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |