Article: Multiple cultures meld in sculpture by Gauguin: Artist introduced global perspective.(Arts)(Art)

I am seeking to set something more natural above corrupt civilization, with the primitive as my starting point.

- Paul Gauguin in a letter to Theo van Gogh, circa 1889-90

In the letter he sent Theo van Gogh, Paul Gauguin could have been paraphrasing Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French philosopher who believed "natural man" to be the ideal human. Rousseau thought the "noble savage" was the holder of all wisdom - and this belief, according to Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden exhibit curator Valerie Fletcher, filtered down to Gauguin (1848-1903) through French romantic literature.

Gauguin, thought by friends to be a renegade artist because ...

Related newspaper, magazine, and journal articles:

 
 
Newsweek Harper's Magazine The Washington Post Chicago Tribune Crain's Chicago Business PRNewswire Pediatric News The Nation Advertising Age The Economist (US) A FREE trial gives you access to over 80 million articles! Access over 6,500 publications with a FREE trial!