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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
UNE JEUNE FILLE DE FIDJI, OCEANIE (A YOUNG FIJI GIRL. OCEANIA)
12020-10-09T11:11:56-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e381504Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1935 Woodcut print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1982.133.2plain2020-12-24T12:07:16-08:00USC 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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12020-12-17T15:16:28-08:00Nature22plain2020-12-17T15:35:25-08:00In Jacoulet’s portraits the natural world is utilized as a floating adornment. During his travels to the islands he would sketch the flowers and foliage he encountered and adorned his portraits with them. The oversized flowers and foliage would often hover above and behind his subjects with no direct relationship. Yet the natural world has a large influence on Pacific Island culture as it often influenced local views of the universe and society. In Micronesia the organization of society is influenced largely by relationships to the sea as residents rely on it for food and must travel it for interisland exchange to survive. Material objects of Micronesia are often concerned with sea spirits, canoes, and fishing.
How would you describe the relationship between Jacoulet’s nature-based images with Pacific Island material objects?
UN HOMME DE YAP. QUEST CAROLINES (A YAP MAN. WEST CAROLINES) Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1936 Woodblock print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1982.133.10
FISH TRAP New Caledonia, Numea, 20th century Spherical wood frame with fiber twine and adorned with cowry shells Gift of Richard Kelton 1981.136.20
UNE JEUNE FILLE DE FIDJI, OCEANIE (A YOUNG FIJI GIRL. OCEANIA) Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1935 Woodcut print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1982.133.2
NATURAL FIBERS WOVEN HAND FAN Micronesia, 19th century Woven plant fiber and feathers with yellow and brown-purple dye and tortoise shells Gift of David L. Kamansky 2005.42.13
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.
