Gauguin Paul - Gauguins Paradise Lost

Robert Kirsch in the Los Angeles Times

With Andersens penetrating guidance, we see that the savagery is only one pole of Gauguins spirit Whatever else emerges from this fascinating and imaginative study, one point is amply clear. Gauguins mutation was a myth he himself worked hard to create.

Larry Rumley in the Seattle Times

Wayne Andersens concern is with the symbolism in Gauguins art as it reflects his tangled notions of God, sex, and the incidents of birth and death in mans progressin brief, the psychology behind the art.

Ellen M. Jensen in the Rocky Mountain News

With extensive research into the artists psychological composition, Andersen has penetrated the murky legends and romantic haze that encompassed Gauguin to expose an artistic genius who was consumed by the darkest dementia.

Stephanie Sutton in the Harvard Bulletin

Andersen has produced a study of Gauguin which invites inflationary praise. The book is rich in every context: in boldness of interpretation, in scholarship, in execution.

Francis Haskell in the New York Review of Books

Although art historians have been trying to use psychoanalytic methods, the territory is still hazardous and the first thing that needs to be said about Andersens achievement is that he scrambles over it with infectious confidence. As a course of seminars Gauguins Paradise Lost must have been fascinating and it has been transformed with much skill into a coherent book.

Nigel Dennis in the Sunday Telegraph (UK)

A strange, elaborate, and intriguing book. Are we prepared to follow Andersens line? The last thing that Gauguin suggests is this sort of intellectual symbolism: he seems to represent everything that is earthy, fruity, flamboyant and exotic. In fact, Andersen is right and we are wrong. Andersen explains Gauguins paintings and though we are bound to feel he is pushing his explanations he is backed up most of the time by Gauguin himself.

Copyright Wayne Andersen, 1971, 2013.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, in an information retrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any meanselectronic, digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the express written permission of the publisher, and the holder of copyright. Submit all inquiries and requests to the publisher: ditions Fabriart, Boston office: 134 Beach Street, Suite 3B, Boston , MA, 02111.

Originally published by Viking Press, New York, New York in 1971 and by Secker and Warburg, London, UK in 1972.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress catalog card number: 72-135347

Gauguins Paradise Lost/ Wayne Vesti Andersen, author

p.cm.

1. Paul Gauguin, 2. Nineteenth century painting, 3. Modern Art,

4. French Art, 5. Biography

ISBN. 978-0-9725573-6-8

For my enduring friend, Emeka Nchekwube

CHRONOLOGY