Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist,” a new survey of Paul Gauguin’s oeuvre at the Art Institute, aims to disrupt the familiar association of Tahitian motifs with his work: full-bodied, brown-skinned women, sandy beaches, lush landscapes, tranquil waters. This is a noble and necessary endeavor because Gauguin’s output consists of so much more than his well-known painting. Here a thorough collection of objects, didactic texts, and historical frames provides much-needed context to Gauguin’s place in the art-history canon. As someone who enjoys a good backstory, I was pleased to see Gauguin’s artwork contextualized with examples of arts and crafts from the cultures that inspired him. But as an art writer and critic who works to uncover meaning in various settings, I was disappointed. While offering the background that positions Gauguin as an artistic innovator, the exhibition skirts the context that raises ethical questions around his relationship to cultural consumption and appropriation.
Gauguin’s sculptures are beautiful, and his paintings certainly benefit from these earlier experiments in form and material. Figures like the iconic washerwomen and Breton girls, rendered in the manner of Degas and Pissarro, were early indicators of Gauguin’s interest in abstraction, and his use of bold color swatches and mystic symbols anticipate the coming rise of modernism in art.
Through 9/10: Sun–Wed and Fri-Sat 10:30 AM–5 PM, Thu 10:30 AM–8 PM Art Institute of Chicago 111 S. Michigan 312-443-3600aic.edu $25, $19 students, seniors ($5 discount for Chicago residents), free kids under 14; free for Illinois residents Thursdays 5-8 PM
