GAUGUIN IN THE SOUTH SEAS

by Bengt Danielsson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 6, 1966

Why rehearse again this melancholy tragedy? Because Danielsson, who has spent much time in Tahiti and the Marquesas, has both uncovered new material and wants to correct some accepted errors. While he touches here and there upon the contents of some of the paintings, his main concern is not esthetic but rather to commit Gaughin's last decade to paper more reliably than ever before. As character drawing, this portrait of the beleaguered artist rotting to death among the natives cannot be faulted? This is literally the Gauguin who lived, without romantic furbelows of The Moon and Sixpence. The story begins a few years after Gauguin abandoned his wife and five children and gave up working to refine his art. It is all a history of professional failure, excepting for one rare exhibition rather early which misled him into thinking acceptance was near. Abandoning civilization also, or so he thought, he took up with the over-missionaried natives of Tahiti. His several wives were usually broken in at thirteen. He had syphilis and a fractured leg that was infected and refused to mend. He was cantankerous and had almost no peace until his last year when he finally landed a patron-agent. A classic case of an artist's misery and, though we haven't seen the 64 illustrations, the text is only faintly brightened by glimpses of what it was all for. Very readable!

Pub Date: May 6, 1966

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION