Visions of an Enduring World: Jacoulet and the People of OceaniaMain MenuIntroduction: The Pacific Islands and Paul JacouletDisappearing ParadiseAdornments of ParadiseLeisure of ParadiseCloseness to NatureBibliographyUSC Pacific Asia Museumd5c1cdb8968a27aeb8620e4c0c5fc7e36e111c30
PREMIER AMOUR. YAP, QUEST CAROLINES
12020-10-09T11:11:56-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e381503PREMIER AMOUR. YAP, QUEST CAROLINES Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1937 Woodblock print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1982.133.15plain2020-12-24T12:05:36-08:006.0500,147.0833USC Pacific Asia Museumd5c1cdb8968a27aeb8620e4c0c5fc7e36e111c30
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12020-10-12T11:36:21-07:00USC Pacific Asia Museumd5c1cdb8968a27aeb8620e4c0c5fc7e36e111c30Introduction: The Pacific Islands and Paul JacouletUSC Pacific Asia Museum22google_maps2020-12-24T13:23:22-08:00USC Pacific Asia Museumd5c1cdb8968a27aeb8620e4c0c5fc7e36e111c30
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12020-10-12T11:44:51-07:00Closeness to Nature19gallery2020-12-24T13:02:25-08:00What is your favorite Jacoulet portrait? How do you interpret the subjects of his prints? What do you think Jacoulet wants you to feel when you see his work?
Jacoulet’s focus on paradisal leisure and adornments evoke this theme of his subjects’ proximity to nature as a sign of “primitiveness”: primitive ways that inferred a natural progression to civilization through colonization. Between his watercolors and prints his subjects shift back and forth between melancholy and mischief as Jacoulet interprets their collective shift into “civilization” at the time of Japanese colonization. Overall Jacoulet provides a snapshot of Western understanding of the Pacific Islanders in the 20th century and how his art contributed to the sentiment of disappeared communities.
12020-10-12T11:37:52-07:00Leisure of Paradise7plain10253432020-12-24T12:33:36-08:00Jacoulet’s portraits provide his honest interpretation of an ending paradise. During his travels through the Pacific islands tourists commonly viewed the islanders as doomed for extinction. His portraits envelope this theme by displaying the beauty of these islands and their people. Part of this beauty is the leisure of his subjects. His beautiful subjects are often depicted sitting and lounging surrounded by beautiful clothes, colors, and flowers, creating a sense of a transitory beauty floating into extinction.
How does this portrait of paradisal leisure compare to the intricate carvings of a ceremonial object?
PREMIER AMOUR. YAP, QUEST CAROLINES Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1937 Woodblock print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1982.133.15 Entitled “First Love” this portrait depicts a young Yapese girl covered only in a large skirt and garland flowers. The background is a mixture of pink pigments, wax, and silver mica. This young Yapese known only as Mio also appears in another Jacoulet portrait entitled YAGOUROUGH ET MIO .
MEDICINE CANOE Solomon Islands, c. 1870s Dark wood canoe with carvings and tied together with twine Estate of John C.V. Lucas 2001.15.1 This ceremonial object is made of dark wood with geometrical and rectilinear carvings revealing the light brown areas underneath. Sparse use of colors with preferences of black and red are common features of artistic styles in the Solomon Islands. The end tips of the canoe have a carving of a face on one side and a spider pattern on the other. In central Solomons these carvings often serve both as ornamentation and as guardians of canoes that presumably represent spirits.