Wesley Haines ARTH-510 Prof.

Broude A Noble Savage Introduction:

August Strindberg- 1895: Gauguin is the savage who hates the restraints of civilization [he is] the child who takes his toys apart to make others.1

Gauguin had his share of epithets in his lifetime- misogynist, pedophile, racist, mahu, inverti (some of these self-proclaimed). Despite these labels and condemnations, the artist remained an active participant in revolution- as both as pariah and postimpressionist. Gauguin did not seek to add to the conversation (whether it be in the discourse of cultural unrest or modern art); but rather, he sought to eschew the present dialogue and completely change the perspective on tradition. Regardless of his true intentions to depart his world in constant flux, Gauguin arrived at a terra nova- a netherland that remained outside of time and historical process, a stasis of sorts2. From this vantage, the recluse saw opportunity to imbue the New World with his, to abandon any semblance of his European existence and find a primal, instinctual force within. This reciprocity of cultures and beliefs resonates throughout the trajectory of Gauguins artistic career in Papeete, inducing both astonishment and indignation from the 1889 Exposition Universelle to the present. What remains at stake in discussing Gauguins art in Breton and Papeete is devising if these sojourns into primitivism remain poorly-conducted ethnographic studies or a mans triumphant mediation of two worlds through the sublimity of art. Both arguments possess valid and outlandish claims, just
1

Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," pg. 98 2 Abigail Solomon-Godeau, "Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 17, pg. 317

like Noa Noa remains a mythical, yet engaging document of a mans search for meaning. Objectively, Gauguin is without integrity- abandoning his family, marrying adolescents, just mired in his own narcissism and hubris. And then again, this describes many famous artists. Perhaps by allowing these prejudices to transpire for now, one can find worth in his art- his savage destruction of societal and aesthetic traditions, taking a new approach to Western art from non-Western land. Dou Venons Nous?
Paul Gauguin- Avant et Apres (1903): It looks to me as if morality, like the sciences and all the rest is, on its way toward a quite new morality which will be opposite of today.3

As to the exact impulses that lead Gauguin into solitude, no one can really pinpoint the moment, for his literature remains as inaccurate as the ridiculous mythic accounts that follow his legend today. Yet the sentiment to change- to sculpt the art worlds future, is felt deeply when tracing Gauguins artistic activity during his sojourn to Breton. Although known as a tourist attraction, Breton remained a pastoral haven caught in a centuries-long stasis- otherwise a perfect area for Gauguin to experiment with Rousseau-ian utopian. Eliding most adult male studies, Gauguin lays the foundation for themes and artistic techniques he will use on the female nude studies in Tahiti by painting genre scenes of Breton women and studies of young boys, who are alarmingly androgynous in the artists depictions. The studies and scenes with women remain platonic, yet are tinged with savagery due to their simple environment and appearance in paintings such as

Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," quoted from Gauguin on pg. 100

Breton Girls Dancing (1888)4 and Vision After the Sermon (1888)5- which experiments with the Synthesist formal techniques used later in his trajectory. Besides the obvious theme of manipulating primitive environments to mystify his contrived art, Gauguin introduces a vital motif- using the female body to eschew contemporary discourse in the second sex. Harkening back to the impetus of male dominance, Gauguin is reconstructing these Breton women (and later, the Tahitian women) into modern forms of Eve, as evidenced by Breton Eve (1889)6 and various journal entries about the nature of women in French society. For example:
[this society] is supposedly acting in the name Christian morality, thus decides a womans fate and thereby causes so much suffering. -Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa7

Without explicitly discussing Eve, Gauguin is clearly dissatisfied with the persistence of religious power over society. Yet there are differing views on exactly how Gauguin chooses to use these women (as objects, some would say). Abigail SolomonGodeau finds Gauguin guilty of what he seeks to change- a male artist [being] a promethean and agnostic hero who the primitive Eve character as a patriarchal imaginary and cultural and psychic construction.8 The fact Gauguin attempts to merge the primitive with the feminine in such a way is more gendered discourse and a mere collapse of one [trait] into the other,8- simply a failed, misogynist endeavor. However, one can potentially counter Solomon-Godeaus argument by citing Gauguins views on the Eves he has painted in both Breton and Tahiti:
4 5

Paul Gauguin. Breton Girls Dancing. 1888. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Paul Gauguin. Vision After the Sermon. 1888. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh 6 Paul Gauguin. Breton Eve. 1889. Watercolor and pastel. McKay Art Museum 7 Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," quoted from Gauguin on pg. 117 8 Abigail Solomon-Godeau, "Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 17, pg. 319
8

The Eve of your civilized conception makes you, and makes almost all of us, into misogynists The Eve I have painted logically can remain nude before our eyes. Yours in this simple state couldnt walk without shame, and, too beautiful would be the evocation of evil and a pain.- Paul Gauguin9

As referenced by art historian Peter Brooks, Gauguins effort to create a modern Eve is neither misogynist, nor colonialist in nature- but instead an honest attempt to subliminally reform a womans role in society through deconstructing the female identity in Breton and Tahiti. Yet, Solomon-Godeaus argument gains validity once the artist arrives in the New World and no longer sees the woman as platonic subjects. Que Sommes Nous?
Helene Cixous, La Jeune Nee- The body of strangeness must not disappear, but its strength must be tamed, it must be returned to the master.10

Gauguins oeuvre as an artist would be spec of dust without his journeys to the fantasized utopia of Tahiti. A culture completely separate from Western customs and reasoning, the Tahitian people in Papeete, in a sense, exorcised the dormant primal instincts in Gauguin, allowing his artistic theories and techniques to rapidly evolve (or devolve, as some believed) into the most impressive Post-Impressionist work seen yet. Much of his journals and literature (Noa Noa, Avant et Apres) have little semblance to reality, yet are successful in demonstrating the emotional and spiritual transformation in Gauguins mind. Yet with this transformation, one finds Gauguins savage impulses to develop negative effects on his dealings with the women, as evidenced by his two marriages to young girls. This problem is compounded by Gauguins social exiling and his constant questioning of sexual identity throughout his residence in Tahiti. Gauguins sincere attempts to sublimate the revolution of traditional Western
9

Peter Brooks, "Gauguin's Tahitian Body," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 18, pg. 335 Abigail Solomon-Godeau, "Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 17, Cixious quoted on pg. 327
10

customs come under scrutiny when considering his relationship with some Tahitian women. In what Solomon Godeau brands as Gauguinism11, the artist continually rationalized his use and intercourse with women by both naturalizing them and rendering innocence upon them- thus, avoiding the social stigma that would follow in France. This accusation is reinforced by Gauguins written thoughts on Tahitian women:
All, indeed wish to be taken, brutally taken without a single word. All have the secret desire for violence, because this act of authority on the part of the male leaves to the woman- will its full share of irresponsibility.- Paul Gauguin, Noa Noa12

Following this logic, Gauguin has simply deserted all civilized chivalry and relations with women, becoming a carnivore seeking its prey. Gauguins desire to deconstruct the Eve identity seems to have taken a completely different dimension, motivated by seemingly opposite intentions as mentioned before. Quite literally, the reciprocity of the feminine and primitive is collapsing on its own intentions. However, before one dismisses Gauguins work as gendered discourse disguised as spiritual enlightenment, the ethnographical perspective to Tahitian society has been completely ignored. Dating from Captain Samuel Wallis arrival to Tahiti in 1767 or Bougainvilles anthropological studies in the area, one could become more sympathetic to Gauguins treatment of the women. Based on an economy entirely devoid of a market, the Tahitian medium of trade and commerce lies upon the sole principle that sexual relations are inherently woven in the fabric of social relationships. That is- the pleasure principle dominated without censorship and that sex was pragmatic and performative, creating structure and patterning kinship.13 Knowing this, it is plausible to
11

Abigail Solomon-Godeau, "Going Native: Paul Gauguin and the Invention of Primitivist Modernism," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 17, pg. 326 12 Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," quoted from Gauguin on pg. 117 13 Peter Brooks, "Gauguin's Tahitian Body," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 18, pg. 334

see why Gauguin viewed female relationship in that way, however disturbing it may have been. What is more, this understanding of Tahitian societal functions furthers the argument that the Tahitian female body is the modern Eve incarnate. Without original sin, the Tahitian female is able to simply exist, complicating our own views of the female form to this day- an evocative commentary on the civilization that produced Eve. The primitive, animalistic quality (as Gauguin would write in Noa Noa) is thus attached to the Tahitian Eve and resonates throughout much of Gauguins art- Are You Jealous? (1892)14, Mysterious Water (1893)15. With sex being used as the primary commodity, as opposed to economic services or currency, Gauguin is able to physically and spiritually penetrate the Tahitian society, taking Tehaamana as his wife- consuming their language, customs and religion as he stays in Papeete. Their relationship becomes the basis of much of Noa Noa, which in turn, leads Gauguin to use her as the subject for many studies and works, as well as the belief that she holds the key to what he has been looking for- that entering her body opens the way to primitivism as a coherent and totalized world view.16 To illustrate his manipulation of Tehaamana, one would examine the complex relationship of formal and expressionist elements intertwined in Gauguins earlier masterpiece The Specter Watches Over Her (1892).17 At once, the painting seems again to reinforce the pedophilic colonialist argument against Gauguins artwork- a native woman, conquered by mysticism and emotion is unable to fathom her internal issues past that of an evil spirit. Although the painting fails to draw sympathy immediately, its
14 15

Paul Gauguin. Are You Jealous? 1892. Oil on canvas. Pushkin Museum, Moscow, Russia Paul Gauguin. Mysterious Water. 1893. Watercolor. Private Collection. 16 Peter Brooks, "Gauguin's Tahitian Body," The Expanding Discourse, chapter 18, pg. 339 17 Paul Gauguin. The Specter Watches Over Her. 1892. Oil on canvas. Buffalo-Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

subject matter and thematic value weaken the dimorphic paradigm of sexuality on which European machismo depends. Emphasizing the hermaphroditic qualities of Tehaamana, an appealing feature Gauguin found in many of the Tahitian women and men, which in turn pushed him to challenge his own sexuality and the role of being a man in Tahitian society.18 The work can also be viewed as Gauguins own challenge to the European aesthetic discourse of the female nude, influenced heavily by Manets Olympia (1863)19 (of which Gauguin kept a photographic copy in Papeete), having Tehaamana hide and reveal her own phallus, again commenting on her masculine sexual autonomy, despite being a woman. Gauguin has created an Eve, one that can exist as a natural and autonomous entity without feeling shame or pain. Ou Allons Nous?
Puvis explains his idea, yes but he does not paint it. He is Greek whereas I am a savage, a wolf in the woods without a collar.- Paul Gauguin20

Thus far, the discussion on Gauguins art has remained almost entirely material. Perhaps is strongest motivation to depart from Europe was to escape the religious institutions that occupied much of his life and find a new spirituality. In Tahiti- in Tehaamana, Gauguin discovered a fascinating union of the material and immaterial that remained in his art until his passing. In The Specter Watches Over Her (1892), Gauguin depicts his wife confronted by an immaterial apparition, an evil spirit that acts as an agent of the afterlife- thus
18

Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," quoted from Gauguin on pg. 121 19 Edouard Manet. Olympia. 1863. Oil on canvas. Musee D'Orsay, Paris, France 20 Stephen F. Eisenman, Sex in Tahiti Gauguin's Skirt. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Chapter 2: "Sex in Tahiti," quoted from Gauguin on pg. 142

indicating a presence of another force beyond their control. This metaphysical union of both man and woman, life (ao) and death (po)- a plane of existence where each being can live in harmony, as if attached by an umbilical cord- each need one another to exist. The relationship between the physical and invisible is completely opposed to the traditional monotheistic Western depictions of God, who occupies an entirely separate realm of existence that does not come in contact with the mortal world. The composition is what Gauguin has always strived for- a (Tahitian) reconciliation between matter and spirit, primitive and emotional. The Synthesist use of line and color remain as Eisenman put it phantasmagoric reflections of the surrounding material world, which offers one a sublime view of the heavenly immaterial, while flouting centuries of Western art traditions. Love his work or detest it- Gauguin did not need to add to the conversation, he created his own.