Chapter 6: Wielding the Axe: Jarry and Gauguin in 1893

James Kearns

From Symbolist Landscapes. The Place of Painting in the Poetry and Criticism of Mallarmé and His Circle (1989), pp. 145-63, doi:10.59860/td.c69642d

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Part of the book: Symbolist Landscapes. The Place of Painting in the Poetry and Criticism of Mallarmé and His Circle

James Kearns

MHRA Texts and Dissertations 27

Modern Humanities Research Association

ModernFrenchPoetryopen


Abstract.  Gauguin's isolation in Tahiti had not lessened his need to win the Parisian public over to his work nor deprived him of his aggressive business sense, and he staged an ambitious exhibition in November 1893. It brought to an end any hopes of reconciliation with literary Symbolism, but Jarry, after seeing the exhibition, wrote three poems 'd'après et pour Paul Gauguin', one of them based on Gauguin's painting L'Homme à la hache. Poem and painting provide a focus for discussion of Gauguin's situation.

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