Verso: Oral Histories, Related Exhibitions, and Grappling with Gauguin

This month, we will release another edition of our Bearden Oral Histories series featuring Romare Bearden’s biographer, Myron Schwartzman. Schwartzman, Professor Emeritus of English at Baruch College, is the author of the biography Romare Bearden: His Life and Art (1990). Having befriended Bearden in 1978, Schwartzman conducted extensive interviews with the artist over several years, which informed his narrative. 

Visit the WPI Oral Histories series for this podcast and others.

Enduring Gauguin: Reflections on Gauguin’s Legacy in the Pacific 

In this webinar, Caroline Vercoe (Samoa/New Zealand) discusses a wide range of responses by Pacific artists and unpacks Gauguin’s enduring legacy as what could be described as a “pain point,” platform, or provocation. It considers why he seems to remain so central in debates—often ambivalent and polemical—today, even though he died some 120 years ago.

Beyond Gauguin: Tracing the Colonial Stereotype of the Exotic Pacific Island Woman

In 2020, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen presented the exhibition “Paul Gauguin – Why Are You Angry?” This exhibit mapped the myth surrounding the artist and unveiled the transhistorical colonial myth of Tahiti, both within and beyond Gauguin’s creations. Using the exhibition “Paul Gauguin—Why Are You Angry?” as a starting point, this conversation brings together Tiatia and O’Brien’s research and shared interests in gender, sexuality, race, and femininity. Specifically, the webinar will delve into the colonial stereotype of the exoticized Pacific island woman that extends far beyond Gauguin’s works.