Paul Gauguin’s legacy and his Tahitian painting

I recently visited the Courtauld Gallery at the Strand in London. 

I revisited Paul Gauguin’s famously mysterious and captivating “Nevermore”; and got to see “Te Rerioa” (The Dream) for the first time. 

The more I delve into art history, the more incredible and groundbreaking Gauguin is. I must admit that I have a soft-spot for him; and it is hard to know where one should stand concerning his behaviour in the Polynesian chapter of his life.

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With that said, Nikhil Krishnan has written in the Daily Telegraph recently (“Racist sexual predator? That isn’t Paul Gauguin’s full story”) reviewing Sue Prideaux’s biography of Paul Gaugin.

She argues that we ought to reassess his standing and tarnished reputation a bit more fairly — especially against the present zeitgeist of identity politics and cancel culture. I will write more about this particular point soon; but here’s a classic example from the wonderful BBC.

Nikhil Krishnan’s main points:

1. Gauguin did not bring syphilis to Polynesia. Analysis of his teeth evinced no traces of cadmium, mercury or arsenic which was used to treat the disease. The introduction of syphilis to Tahiti and the other Pacific Islands can be traced to the late 18th century with European explorers.
2. It is unfair to criticise Gauguin as being a mere “colonialist” who abused Tahitian women and disdained the locals. She argued and proves that Gauguin devoted himself to fighting for the rights of Tahitians under the stuffy French colonial rule he despised. Writing:

Certainly Gauguin’s presence in Tahiti wouldn’t have been possible had he not been French; nor was he exactly a saint. His “marriages” to girls in their early teens were regarded with alarm even in an age with different attitudes to the age of sexual consent. But he was no ideologue: he used every opportunity to decry, eloquently and publicly, French policies in Tahiti. He was a stout defender of the indigenous culture of Polynesia against the attempts of missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, to destroy every last trace of it. Prideaux finds evidence of Gauguin’s attitudes in a long-lost manuscript of a long, illuminating essay, Avant et après (“part memoir, part last testament”) that has only recently been made available to researchers.

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Nevermore by Gauguin

Very captivating.

This is probably Gauguin’s 15-year-old “companion” while living in Tahiti which makes it a difficult subject. If I’m not mistaken, the culture at the time on Tahiti permitted this kind of “relationship”. I am entirely sure about this as a matter of historical fact, but it raises a question of whether it matters?

There is a feeling of unease and pathos. While not at rest, it seems her hand might be asking tears, or just her posture. She’s anxiously observing two figures in the background.

The face bears emotion through the shades of colour.

And a hint of a tear?

This is really beautiful and the Tahiti southern Pacific themes are obvious in the flowers embellishing the walls.

Why “Nevermore”?

The painting’s title associates the bird on the ledge with Edgar Allan Poe’s poem ‘The Raven’. In it, a poet, driven mad by the death of his lover, hears a raven endlessly repeating ‘nevermore’. This sense of loss may allude to Gauguin’s disillusionment at the destruction of Tahitian culture by French administrators and Church missionaries.

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Te Rerioa (The Dream) by Gauguin

Painted only weeks after Nevermore.

It's quite striking. Here are 2 silent, rather distant, women. They are watching over a sleeping baby. Ancient Egyptian style cat (lack of 3D effect).

I like the position and posture of the seated lady with her chin in her hands. 

The room is ornately decorated with elaborate wood reliefs.

Responding to Hezbollah’s war with Israel

In today’s WSJ, Israel is being (1) “warned” by the US against “escalating the fight with Hezbollah in Lebanon”; and (2) pushed to revive Biden’s so-called “ceasefire” agreement in Gaza.

In my opinion:

1. Gallant is entirely correct to say that military action would need to be deployed against Hezbollah to counter the rockets and drones which continue to pound northern Israel. 
2. The Biden “ceasefire” does illustrate the chasm between Israeli security concerns and the American “approach”. The Biden administration believes that Hamas can be ultimately “negotiated” with as a rational party. And yet, Israeli security requires its defeat & bringing those who planned and committed Oct-7 to justice. How can there be a “diplomatic solution” with an organisation that want Israel’s destruction?
3. Sinwar has publicly stated that Hamas is prepared for a “long battle of attrition” against Israel — and indeed a war of attrition against ordinary Palestinians who are not Hamas. Although Sinwar’s days are now numbered, I think he may have a point. Hamas’s last few supply line through the Philadelphi Corridor and Rafah Crossing are finally gone. Not even the thefts by Hamas from the Gaza aid trucks (or Gazans) can prevent its food, water, and weapons from dwindling. Israel is also continually reducing Sinwar’s available hiding places as they find and destroy tunnels. Time is clearly against him. Israel needs to see their Gaza operations through to their end. But, it cannot ignore the Hezbollah offensive, which is tied to Hamas, and the belief that through violence Israel will stop “taking their land”, end its “occupation”, ... or the usual tropes. Violence against Israel should be costly. Israel cannot let them enjoy the fruits of their crimes.
4. Nobody talks of the 120K civilians exiled from their homes — in Israel & Lebanon — because Hezbollah has opened a front against Israel ... to kill Jews.

I agree with Gallant against a major military operation in Lebanon on the basis the Iranian-militias’ activities. For now, Israel should undertake security operations against Hezbollah operatives and their assets in Lebanon. But, it would need to be careful not to attack Lebanon directly.

Lebanon has been in this lose–lose situation for decades at this point. Tiny country, mixed religious populations, mired between Israel and Syria, increasingly corrupt government. 

It’s sad because it’s a beautiful place taken over by a foreign backed group seeking to destabilise it in order to provoke a war.

Update:

It seems Mossad may have effectively castrated over 1000 terrorists today!!

I wonder how much tracking & eavesdropping was done by Mossad on these pagers before they decided to blow them all.

Unfortunately, Nasrallah wasn’t taken out.

The case of Dominique Pélicot - repeatedly sedating his wife and inviting men to rape her while unconscious

This case is pure horror.

Gisèle Pélicot is a 72 year-old French lady. She was repeatedly assaulted while unconscious by 80 men at her husband’s behest. France is still trying to identify 30 of this grandmother’s rapists.

This lady is beyond heroic. And, it sounds like her children are strong also. Her daughter is also a victim (but to a much lesser extent). 

And, today’s headline ... he admits “I am a rapist” in the French mass rape trial.

This guy is a total unhinged psychopath. 

What gets me is how some of the men apparently didn’t think it was rape ... because they had the husband’s permission. What is this? The Dark Ages?

The BBC’s anti-Israel bias

Readers of this blog will have heard me criticise the BBC’s v. obvious anti-Israel bias in its reportage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Living in the UK, I see it all the time. They won’t call them “terrorists” ... they’re quick to jump on Israel but have to then backtrack their “inaccuracies” (by which time, damage was done).

And the most common approach is to focus on what Israel does but scarcely address what Israel is responding to.

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Camilla Turner, in “BBC ‘breached guidelines 1,500 times’ over Israel-Hamas war” (The Daily Telegraph):

The BBC breached its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times during the height of the Israel-Hamas war, a damning report has found.

The report revealed a “deeply worrying pattern of bias” against Israel, according to its authors who analysed four months of the BBC’s output across television, radio, online news, podcasts and social media.

The research, led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson, also found that Israel was associated with genocide more than 14 times more than Hamas in the corporation’s coverage of the conflict.

The Asserson report analysed the BBC’s coverage during a four-month period beginning Oct 7, 2023 – the day Hamas carried out a brutal massacre in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking another 251 into Gaza as hostages.

Researchers identified a total of 1,553 breaches of the BBC’s editorial guidelines, which included impartiality, accuracy, editorial values and public interest.

“The findings reveal a deeply worrying pattern of bias and multiple breaches by the BBC of its own editorial guidelines on impartiality, fairness and establishing the truth,” the report said.

It also found that the BBC repeatedly downplayed Hamas terrorism while presenting Israel as a militaristic and aggressive nation.

It claimed that some journalists used by the BBC in its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict have previously shown sympathy for Hamas and even celebrated its acts of terror.

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, is accused of excusing Hamas’s terrorist activities and comparing Israel to Putin’s Russia, while Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent, is also cited for allegedly “downplaying” the October 7 attacks on Israel.

The report singles out the BBC’s Arabic channel, saying that it is one of the most biased of all global media outlets in its treatment of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

I do not pay the TV license fee.

Masaccio - The Virgin and Child

In art history, Masaccio is important.

He is regarded as the greatest of the early-Renaissance Florentines.

Real name: “Tommaso Giovanni di Simone” ... AKA: “Masaccio” = “big ugly Tom”.

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The Virgin and Child (1426) by Masaccio

In this egg tempera on wood, the Virgin and Child are seated on a stone throne with classical columns.

Masaccio’s Virgin and Child is an affecting picture which seeks to stir both the basic &  profound in human emotions. 

This is especially clear if, for example, you compare it to Giotto’s Maestà of an earlier Florentine generation. Masaccio revolutionised the art of painting during his lifetime & formed a bridge between Giotto and Michelangelo.

Giotto - Maestà

Not only did Masaccio paint a very believable, rather sweet, humanist and dignified Christ — but he imbued the painting with feeling and emotion ... and, as with the Renaissance, it is clear that the human is the central measure of all things.

Angels playing lutes, and Christ eating grapes.

And yet, the Christ is still god-like with the grapes referring to the blood of Christ.

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Two panels from the Santa Maria Maggiore Altarpiece (1428-9) by Masaccio & Masolino

Masaccio painted the right-hand panel. It shows St John the Baptist and St Jerome. Jerome in his red cardinal robes.

Masolino painted the left-hand side with Pope St Gregory and St Matthias.

The earliest known original colour film of London in 1924 - hundred years ago

I came across a Daily Mail article about this video which says it was “made by Claude Friese-Greene, a cinema technician and son of moving-image pioneer William.”

It’s a funny thing to see so many people smiling and waving at us ... a hundred years ago.

Trafalgar Sq and the National Gallery behind it.

There is a McDonalds today where that oncoming omnibus is positioned.

I noticed people showing their respects with flowers at the Cenotaph.

Very touching. The Great war ended - at that point - only 6 years ago.

It was “unveiled on Armistice Day, 11 November 1920. 

The memorial became a central point for all those whose family and friends had died during the First World War with no known grave.”

The Quaratesi Madonna (1425) by Gentile da Fabriano

Gentile da Fabriano was an artist who worked during the fusion of gothic Northern European art and its later Italian styles.

It was the centre of an altarpiece for the
church of San Niccolò Oltrarno, Florence.

This masterpiece is in the National Gallery. 

“Gothic” usually describes the style of architecture common to Northern Europe between 1100—1500. But, it also refers to the art of the period. It was highly ornamental with realistic detail, but without any overall scheme of representation.

In its later years, Gothic art became increasingly decorative and elegant with sophisticated patterns and rhythms, and the fusion between Italian and Northern European styles is known as “International Gothic”.

In this beautiful egg tempera, the Virgin and Child are enthroned with rich fabrics and angels on either side.

Details:

Utterly exquisite garments and drapery, and especially the way they fold and bend.

It is warm and sumptuous, fitting for the enclothing Child within.

The Christ Child is handing a daisy (symbol of innocence) to an angel.

The Christ child in such luster of gold. He practically shines in blissful gold.

His rubicund cheeks and sweet demeanor means all we can only but adore him.

The sweet affection of his mother’s arms.

Very exciting new blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition

The National Gallery is celebrating its 200 year anniversary this year.

They have organised a “once in a century” Van Gogh celebration for his major works from across the world!!

I saw the exhibition guide the other day at the shop — but dare not open it and spoil the excitement. 😆

Will post a deep-dive after I’ve visited!!

Fra Filippo Lippi - The Annunciation & Seven Saints

When I came across the Carmelite priest Filippo Lippi at the NG, I was amazed by his masterpieces.

I think he might be my favourite of the early renaissance👌. 

It is a true stylistic jump from his predecessors and so v. beautiful to look at.

According to Vasari, he was a pupil of Masaccio. He forms the bridge between Masaccio and Botticelli.

As with the Renaissance in general, his art was informed with the aesthetics of the classical world & a renewed humanism. 

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The Seven Saints (1450-3)

In the centre, John the Baptist  ... he sits between Cosmas and Damian, the physician saints and patrons of the Medici family (Medici means “doctors”).

On the far left, sits St. Francis. His stigmata subtly indicated in gold. Next to him, St Lawrence with the grill on which he was martyred. 

On the far right, St. Peter Martyr with a hatchet (with which he was bludgeoned to death), and “Anthony the Great” with his hermit’s staff.

Such an engaging humanist face - chubby, frizzy curled hair, slight beard and compel eyes.

 

Beautiful mastery of perspective, and Lippi’s angled sedentary position of St. John’s feet is skillful;

also lovely details, incl. robes folds and internal colouring and the castle in the background behind trees.

 

Beautiful long flowing hair, what a hat (!), and St. Francis stigmata as “fizzing” with electricity. 

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The Annunciation (1450-3)

Wow.  

I really love this. Da Vinci’s version of the “Annunciation” has similar a perspective and landscape. This was commissioned by the powerful Medici family.

In this egg tempera, the Angel Gabriel announces the future birth of Christ.

Both heads bowed — for the presence of God (through his dove). There is a lot being communicated in this painting.

The walled garden alludes to mother Mary’s virginity.

 

Such outstanding and intricate detail against vibrant colours.

The Angel’s hair’s delineation is just so life-like and sumptuous (compared to earlier gothic traditions).

The radiant & vibrant patterns of the peacock feathers as wings complements the halo’s coruscation.

Peacock feather pattern! What a majestic bird.

Beautiful garden-like foliage and grass, exquisite plinth. No detail is too much.

And such carefully drawn drapery which folds so effortlessly on the grass.

The hand of God (which can be seen at the top) sends the dove (symbol of the Holy Spirit). 

Mary is reading the Holy Book, head lowered, exquisite drapery around her head and neck. 

And the dove is in a shimmering hagiographic spiral flying towards her. Presumably her womb?