Gauguins Challenge: New Perspectives After Postmodernism

Several decades have now passed since postcolonial and feminist critiques presented the art-historical world with a demythologized Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), a much-diminished image of the artist/hero who had once been universally admired as the father of modernist primitivism. In this volume, both long established and more recent Gauguin scholars offer a provocative picture of the evolution of Gauguin scholarship in the recent postmodern era, as they confront and consider how the dismantling of the long-standing Gauguin myth positions us now in the 21st century to deal with and assess the life, work, and legacy of this still perennially popular artist. To reassess the challenges that Gauguin faced in his own day as well as those that he continues to present to current and future scholarship, they explore the multiple contexts that influenced Gauguins thought and behavior as well as his art; and they incorporate a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, from anthropology, philosophy, and the history of science to gender studies and the study of Pacific cultural history. Dealing with a wide range of Gauguins production, they challenge conventional art-historical thinking, highlight transnational perspectives, and offer clues to the direction of future scholarship, as audiences worldwide seek to make multicultural peace with Gauguin and his art. Broude has raised the bar of Gauguin scholarship ever higher in this groundbreaking volume, which will be necessary reading for students and scholars of art history, late nineteenth-century French and Pacific culture, gender studies, and beyond. Review I didn't think it could be done: A new collection of essays about Gauguin that contains original research and new conclusions. And important ones too, about gender, sex, vision, religion, power, identity and colonialism. This is a Gauguin for the 21st century! - Stephen F. Eisenman, Professor of Art History, Northwestern University, USA The diversity of scholarly voices assembled by Norma Broude in Gauguin's Challenge provides a rich variety of perspectives on the artist's disputed colonialist imagery of the exotic French Polynesia of the 1890s. Just as Gauguin's postimpressionist art challenged the aesthetic, political, racial, and sexual standards of his day, so does his beautiful and disturbing art remain a challenge for us to face up to its complexities and contradictions. This passionate volume shows how productive the unfinished conversation on Gauguin can still be for artists, professors, students, and the general public. - Steven Z. Levine, Leslie Clark Professor in the Humanities, Bryn Mawr College, USA With Gauguin's Challenge Norma Broude succeeds in presenting a collection of insightful articles by diverse authors who analyze Gauguin's art and writing. Reassessing both the artist's work and historic persona beyond pioneering postcolonial and feminist critiques, this book contributes masterfully to advancing Gauguin studies. - -- Ruth E. Iskin, Professor of Modern Art, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and author of The Poster: Art, Advertising, Design and Collecting, 1860s-1900s About the Author Norma Broude is Professor Emerita of Art History at American University, USA. A pioneering feminist scholar and specialist in 19th-century French and Italian painting, Broude is known for critical reassessments of Impressionism and the work of Degas, Caillebotte, Cassatt, Seurat, and the Italian Macchiaioli. She is also co-editor of four influential texts on feminist art history.