In 2020, The Courtauld acquired one of the most significant artists manuscripts ever to enter a UK public collection – a unique and richly illustrated text by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903). Offered to The Courtauld as part of the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme administered by the Arts Council, Avant et après is the last major manuscript by Gauguin and the only example of his written manuscripts in the UK. It was written in 1903, the year of the artist’s death, at his home on the Marquesas island of Hiva Oa, French Polynesia. It had never been exhibited publicly and remained unstudied by scholars in its original form until it came to The Courtauld.
Part-memoir and part-manifesto, the 213-page manuscript, reveals important insights into Gauguin’s life, relationships and thoughts, and includes numerous drawings and prints by the artist.
Supported through the Paper Project initiative of the Getty Foundation, this online-conference brings together scholars from all over the world to give a wide-ranging selection of papers focusing on Avant et après, including – amongst others – Gauguin’s literary influences, the Hiva Oa environment in which he was writing at the end of his life, and details about the making of the book which only became apparent once it could be studied at close quarters.
Speakers: Professor Elizabeth Childs (Washington University in St Louis); Dr Cathy Corbett (The Courtauld); Dr Elise Eckermann (Independent Art Historian, Frankfurt am Main); Professor Linda Goddard (University of St Andrews); Dr Monika Hinkel (SOAS, University of London); Yuki Kihara (award winning 2022 Venice Biennale artist); Professor Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega (University of French Polynesia); Giacomo Nerici (University of Milano-Bicocca); Professor Belinda Thomson (University of Edinburgh); Dr Caroline Vercoe (University of Auckland); Dr Rachel Sloan (The Courtauld); Kate Edmondson (The Courtauld); Dr Caroline Levitt (The Courtauld); Dr Rachel Hapoienu (The Courtauld).
Keynote speaker: Professor June E. Hargrove (University of Maryland)
Organised by Dr Ketty Gottardo (Martin Halusa Curator of Drawings, The Courtauld) and Dr Cathy Corbett (Research Assistant, The Courtauld).
Programme
Friday 23rd June 2023. 8.45 – 13.00
Opening at 8.45am
8.45 – 8.55 Introduction. Dr Ketty Gottardo.
8.55 – 9.15 Paper 1. Caroline Vercoe. ‘Where are We Going?’: Reflecting on Gauguin’s Legacy in the Pacific
9.15 – 9.25 Questions.
9.25 – 9.50 Paper 2. Kate Edmondson, and Dr Rachel Hapoienu. Material evidence and technical aspects of the manuscript.
9.50 – 10.00 Questions.
10.00- 10.20 Paper 3. Professor Sylvie Largeaud-Ortega. Peeps and gossips on the Marquesas: Gauguin’s Avant et Après, a palimpsest of Melville’s Typee?
10.20 – 10.40 Paper 4. Dr Monika Hinkel. Gauguin and three Japanese Beauties
10.40 – 10. 55 Questions
10.55 – 11.05 BREAK
11.05 – 11.25 Paper 5. Professor Linda Goddard. Avant et après and the artist’s autobiography.
11.25 – 11.45 Paper 6. Dr Caroline Levitt. Idle chatter, or writing instead of talking: Language and (un)certainty in Gauguin’s Text and Image.
11.45 – 12.00 Questions.
12.00 – 12.20 Paper 7. Dr Cathy Corbett. ‘Flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit’. Some observations on Gauguin’s references to religion(s) in Avant et après.
12.20 – 12.40 Paper 8. Dr Rachel Sloan. An epistolary friendship: Paul Gauguin and André Fontainas.
12.40 – 12.55 Questions.
Saturday 24th June 13.00 – 17.30.
12.55. Opening remarks. Dr Cathy Corbett
13.00 – 13.20 Paper 9. Professor Belinda Thomson. ‘Pour Rire, Pour Vivre, Pour Jouir’: Some reflections on the character and role of humour in Gauguin’s Avant et après.
13.20 – 13.40 Paper 10. Dr Elise Eckermann. Riding Lesson with Guardian Angel: Drawings from Avant et après and corresponding paintings
13.40 – 13.55 Questions.
13.55 – 14.15 Paper 11. Yuki Kihara. Paradise Camp.
14.15 – 14.35 Paper 12. Giacomo Nerici. In Hiva oa: Gauguin and Marquesan art.
14.35 – 14.55 Paper 13. Dr Nicholas Thomas. Changement de résidence: Gauguin’s painting 1901-1903
14.55 – 15.10 Questions
15.10 – 15.30 BREAK
15.30 – 15.50 Paper 14. Harriet Stratis. Experimental Pragmatism: Gauguin’s Transfer Drawing Techniques.
15.50 – 16.10 Paper 15. Professor Elizabeth Childs. Dual voices of Gauguin’s late career: Avant et aprèsand L’esprit moderne et le Catholicisme compared.
16.10 – 16.30 Paper 16. Claire Bernardi. A curatorial point of view : how to exhibit Gauguin today?
16.30– 16.45 Questions.
16.45 – 17.15 Keynote: Professor June Hargrove. Between Avant et Après.
17.15– 17.35 Questions.
17.35 – 17.45 Closing remarks.
Supported through the Paper Project initiative of the Getty Foundation
