"This handsome volume is a good primer on what, exactly, French artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was up to when he permanently ditched Paris for Tahiti and the Marquesas in 1895. It's a catalog for an exhibit of 155 pieces organized by London's Tate Modern, coming to the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., in February, and it gives as much attention to Gauguin's sculpture as to his paintings. The accompanying essays illuminate the contradictions of a man who styled himself as a 'primitive' but relied on the efficiencies of the French colonial postal service to get his work back to potential buyers in Paris on a regular basis. An excellent piece by Charles Forsdick explains the crucial role French doctor Victor Segalen played in rescuing Gauguin's last works after his death."--Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times "A spectacular picture book. Even reproduced, Gauguin's vibrant post-Impressionist palette delights with unexpected harmonies. This exhibition catalogue offers 250 reproductions from a wonderful show at London's Tate Gallery. It's the complete Gauguin shebang--his Tahitian girls, his stilllifes and their avant-garde experiments with perspective, his French country scenes, his carved-wood statues and bas-reliefs, even his ghoulish self-portrait as a stoneware mug. Scholarly essays examine how Gauguin promoted his larger-than-life image of the artist as superior to spiritually bereft Europeans."--Victor Swoboda, Montreal Gazette "This beautiful publication accompanies the current Tate Modern exhibition which is also scheduled for the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The book is stunningly illustrated with more than 200 full color reproductions of paintings, works on paper, ceramics, woodcarvings, writings, sourcebooks, journals, letters, and personal effects. While Gauguin's paintings are frequently reproduced, often in larger formats, Gauguin: Maker of Myth is unusual in its inclusion of sourcebook material, not all of which is included in the exhibition itself. Readers looking only for coffee-table-sized reproductions of Gauguin's more famous works should look elsewhere. This book speaks more directly to artists, teachers, and students who are seeking insight into Gauguin's process of developing a body of work and identity as an artist. Images of cups, wood carvings, and other oddments that this book includes are difficult to find in other publications. Gauguin: Maker of Myth unfolds a wonderful body of works and research for artists, historians, and art lovers. The book is beautifully designed and liberally illustrated with an attention that assists the reader in moving swiftly though a dense and plentiful history spanning several art movements."--Pamela Ayres, ForeWord Reviews
