John La Farge's Second Paradise: Voyages in the South Seas, 1890-1891 (Yale Art Gallery) by: Hodermarsky, Elisabeth
Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2010, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 224 pages, profuse color and b&w illustrations and plates. The essays in John La Farge's Second Paradise explore the artist's reemergence as a plain air landscape painter, his use of the sketchbook, and his late decorative work, which was reinvigorated by the experience of light and color he discovered in the South Seas. Further discussions examine the prevailing notions of tropical paradise perpetuated since Captain Cook's "discovery" of Polynesia in the late 18th century, and offer the first extended comparison of the careers and art of La Farge and Paul Gauguin, who arrived in Tahiti only days after La Farge left in 1891. Featuring many previously unpublished works, this beautiful book is a major contribution to the study of La Farge's life and art. Like new in publishers shrink-wrap.