The first views that Europeans saw of Tahiti were mainly derivatives of William Hodges’ work, such as sketches, paintings, or engravings of drawings. These representations of the land and the natives had a primary purpose of being documentary, and fulfilling the expectations of Europeans who wanted to see what the South Pacific was like. The culture, the landscapes, and the natives all needed to be depicted in a realistic fashion to bring back to the mainland to show what life was like on the other side of the world.
A century later, French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin traveled to the South Pacific to escape civilization and “everything that is artificial and conventional.” His representations of what he saw were much more personal, and much less naturalistic. These were not being shown to thousands to showcase the South Pacific; these were special works that Gauguin painted as a result of a disillusioned past and a bad history with society, and thus more of the artist’s emotions are present in his works. Unlike Hodges more Renaissance and traditional style, Gauguin favored Post-Impressionism influences that emphasized emotional fragmentation, brushstrokes, and application of paint. Even though these two artists captured basically the same subject matter, the results are amazingly different. There are four works in particular, two by each artist, that prove valuable in analyzing the artist’s representation of the South Pacific, specifically the portrayal of women. Hodges’ works Tynai-mai and A view taken in the bay of Otaheite Peha can be compared to Gauguin’s Annah, the Javanese and Two Tahitian Women. In order to compare these, their formal qualities must be analyzed first.
Hodges’ red-chalk portrait of Tynai-mai is a quick sketch, with no real color besides the gradation of red. However, the three-quarters view demonstrates a specificity in the likeness and individuality of the woman, something not seen in portraits done by Gauguin. It has a...