Paul Gauguin (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

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Summary: Mike Venezia introduces kids to the art of Paul Gauguin
Review: One of the more interesting aspects of looking at the life and works of the Impressionist painters, such as Paul Gauguin, is to follow how they were looking for a style of painting that really spoke to them as artists. As was the case with his books on Van Gogh, Monet, and other Impressionists artist, Mike Venezia traces the evolution of the artist, from Gauguin's first painting "Landscape" (1873), to his early impressionist works like "Interior of the Artist's House" (1881), to the development of his own style as represented by "Vision After the Sermon" (1888), to the work he did in Tahiti, such as "Day of the Gods" (1894), for which he is best known. In this Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists volume Venezia does one of his better jobs of explaining the changes in the artists evolving style. These books are the corner stone of the do-it-yourself art appreciation course I have been working on this year and the more specific Venezia gets in terms of explaining an artist's work the more I find it helpful.

This volume includes 17 of Gauguin's paintings from throughout his artistic career, as well as an example of the woodcarving he did on Tahiti. There are also paintings by some of contemporaries-Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, and Van Gogh-which allow you to get a sense of how Gauguin compared to some of the other major impressionist painters. Interestingly enough, these are three artists who liked Gauguin's style of painting. However, Venezia has a cartoon explaining how Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne did not think much of Gauguin or his work and which also implied Gauguin was stealing ideas from Cezanne, in which case seeing reproductions of the two paintings in question would have been an appropriate choice. I think one of the reasons Venezia talks about Gauguin's work more than his life in this volume is because ultimately Gauguin gave his life over to his art more than most great artists. The lesson his life offers, of finding your own unique artistic vision and staying true to it, is something budding young artists could certainly learn to admire.