Post #440769 by ikitnrev on Tue, Mar 17, 2009 7:50 PM

I've been on a Gauguin kick over the last couple of years - it started when I purchased a replica of a Gauguin print from the Jack Lord estate sale, and I thought I should learn more of the artist. (I have a small collection of Covarrubias books too)

I have since then purchased several books about Gauguin - unfortunately I haven't read them yet, so can add no further details on his life, but catch me in a few years! Here is a brief summary of what I already have - there are many other books on Gauguin out there besides these.

• Noa Noa (first American edition 1961, Reynal publisher)
  This edition is amazing - one of those books that simply feels good in your hands, especially when you open the pages and see the glorious colors jump out at you. Found this in a used bookstore near my hometown, and didn't mind that it was a bit pricey

• Paul Gauguin (Great Masters)- text by Anna Barskaya
  basic book, large format with color reproductions. The type of book you might find priced at $5 in the clearance sections of Borders, but still nice to look at

• Paul Gauguin - An Erotic Life
  the most text-heavy and biographical of all my Gauguin books. From the intro: "I have found that Freudian theories of the roles of sexuality and aggression play in creativity are extraordinary useful in understanding Gauguin." (45 color plates, 30 black and white illustrations)

• Lure of the Exotic - Gauguin in New York Collections
  This is the catalog from the 2002 Gauguin exhibit presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York ... the previous major exhibition of Gauguin had been in 1959. Well done, and quite worthy for most everyone here - even features a chapter of things learned from the X-raying of Gauguin's art. (222 illustrations, 134 in color)

• Gauguin Tahiti - The Studio of the South Seas (Shackelford and Freches-Thory)
  Just picked this up last weekend, and I would have to say that this is the most impressive of all the books, and the one that would hold the most appeal to us here on Tiki Central. Not only are there color replicas of many of Gauguin prints, but there is a ton of information about Polynesian society, culture, and religion in general. For example, I just opened the book to a page that featured not one, but two color photographs of Easter Island Kava Kava man carvings. The book contains 341 illustrations, 261 in color.

I also should add that about 15 years ago, based on a friend's recommendation, I read Somerset Maugham's book 'The Moon and the Sixpence.' (with no illustrations at all) It was a tough read at first, partly because the main character Strickland (based on Gauguin, but I did not know this at the time) is not very likable. But I kept to it, and by the end my opinion had changed, and I saw the point of it all.

The book's title refers to the quote "so busy yearning for the moon that he never saw the sixpence at his feet" meaning that the artist's yearning to find a true idealistic view of art and beauty overpowers his ability to sustain human relationships and appreciate the ordinary pleasures of life.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2009-03-17 20:06 ]