"The legendary, pioneering French artist who famously left his family and a career in finance to paint and live like a native in the South Seas, Paul Gauguin in fact began sailing to far-off lands during childhood. As a boy he lived for a time with relatives in Peru, and in his teens, in the merchant marine and the military, he visited South America, India, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the North Sea. He believed firmly in his difference, often referring to himself as a "savage," and once he discovered his passion for art he had to create forms that were original and unique. "What does it matter that I set myself apart from other people? For most I shall be an enigina, but for a few I shall be a poet ...," he wrote." "This volume accompanies a major exhibition of Gauguin's work in New York collections held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Surprisingly, the first major show devoted to Gauguin in New York since the Metropolitan Museum presented a retrospective of his work in 1959, it anticipates the centennial of the artist's death in 1903 and signals the nineteenth anniversary of his debut in New York collections. Four authors from the Metropolitan Museum illuminate aspects of the subject in their texts." "All works in the exhibition, as well as rich comparative material, are reproduced, Notes, a bibliography, a checklist of works in the exhibition, and an index are supplied."--Jacket.
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