9781422285367

GAUGUIN

(Anders Beer Wilse/Norwegian Museum of Cultural History)

 ABOVE:  Paul Gauguin, c. 1891.

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Paul Gauguin, along with other Post-Impressionist painters, was instrumental in a fundamental move toward a modernism not seen in art since the Impressionists themselves took shape. He believed in Paul Cézanne’s geometric simplicity with its cones, spheres, and cylinders, but he also believed in himself, his own abilities, and the potential he had to become a great artist. Gauguin was confident he was a great artist – a form of genius – and he was unafraid to push the boundaries of art history with a move away from the traditional into a world of daring, insight, and paintings that could be regarded as well before their time. Gauguin was also an industrious engraver and regularly worked with woodcuts; he became particularly influential in these mediums well into the 20 th century. Woodcuts were first developed in the 5 th century in China as a way of applying designs to textiles. The medium consists of hollowing an engraving in a piece of wood to form a design or illustration. Ink is then applied and the wood pressed on to paper in order to transfer the design. Wood engraving took over from woodcuts in the early 1800s, but there was a revival of the art toward the end of the 19 th century – employed by the likes of Gauguin, who

used the technique for the illustrations in his book, Noa Noa. However, in reality, woodcutting and engraving had already been outdated by lithography and photography for mass production. Gauguin developed his paintings through many different stages and found inspiration across the globe, particularly in Paris, Brittany, and Arles in France, and the South Pacific. He began his painting career in Europe during the later part of the 19 th century at a time when huge industrial technological change was taking place. While some artists reveled in these new developments, which included airplanes, the telephone, and the introduction of automobiles, Gauguin was less impressed with these technological advances and veered away from what he saw as a “modern” world – however, he was embarking on new innovations of his own. As the landscape in and around Paris began to change, the Impressionists were finding quality in the new cityscapes that were springing up, and although Gauguin used an Impressionist style for a time with patches of color applied through large brushstrokes, he resisted the changing modernized world and chose instead a simpler, less- cluttered approach by focusing on the pre-industrial age.