Gauguin's Challenge: New Perspectives after Postmodernism ed. by Norma Broude

Abstract

Reviewed by: Gauguin's Challenge: New Perspectives after Postmodernism ed. by Norma Broude Catherine Gaughan Broude, Norma, ed. Gauguin's Challenge: New Perspectives after Postmodernism. Bloomsbury, 2018. ISBN 978-1-5013-4250-9. Pp. 306. This collection of essays not only sheds light on Gauguin as an artist but delves into crucial questions concerning the significance of his paintings today. These questions range from ambivalence and androgyny to colonial hybridity and primitivism, which in turn highlight various complexities and contradictions that continue to make Gauguin's art relevant, yet oftentimes troubling for his audiences. The ten essays take into account the world of Gauguin through the lens of sociopolitical, cultural, and aesthetic issues. They look beyond traditional interpretations of his famous renderings of Polynesia to deeper meanings of his works and their place in the twenty-first century. After a well-thought-out introduction, "Gauguin after Postmodernism," the book offers a cross-section of essays ranging from gender, religion, and power in order to come to terms with thorny questions of colonialism and sexism as well as ways in which his artwork impacts our experience today. Famous for his paintings of Tahiti involving large forms, bold shapes, and bright panes of color as well as self-portraits, the book explores Gauguin's contributions to symbolism, science, and spirituality up until his last burst of creativity at the turn of the century. Considering the more contentious aspects of his paintings involving tensions between male/female, civilized/savage, [End Page 260] writer/artist, the topics addressed provide many original intercultural references that are frequently dismissed. The essays toward the end of the volume are particularly worthy of attention in terms of a contemporary reading of Gauguin, such as those of Elizabeth C. Childs and Heather Waldroup, who look at the influence that Gauguin's work had on his and future generations of female artists through contemporary multimedia installations, digital prints, and montages. Many of the essays allow the reader to come face-to-face with the troubling subjects and representations of sexuality in Gauguin's works emphasizing how European clichés and fantasies of the Polynesian body continue to complicate the reception of his paintings over one hundred years later. The stunning series of prints, both black-and-white and color, make this book a significant cultural memento and a point of reflection in terms of both Gauguin's paintings and personality. Well researched and engaging both in its form and content, Gauguin's Challenge offers many critical points of view that challenge the orthodoxies of the artist's time and our own. For those art historians who have an unadulterated passion for Gauguin and for others who may not have quite as much knowledge, this collection of essays will reveal the importance of his influence and the inherent struggle with the place of his work in the twenty-first century. Catherine Gaughan University of Toronto Copyright © 2020 American Association of Teachers of French