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
YAGOUROUGH ET MIO, YAP, QUEST CAROLINES (YAGOUROUGH AND MIO, YAP, WEST CAROLINES)
12020-10-09T11:11:56-07:00Curtis Fletcher3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e381502plain2020-12-17T13:59:40-08:00USC 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.
12020-12-17T14:28:27-08:00Naked Bodies - Continued2plain2020-12-24T12:30:38-08:00YAGOUROUGH ET MIO, YAP, QUEST CAROLINES (YAGOUROUGH AND MIO, YAP, WEST CAROLINES) Paul Jacoulet Japan, c. 1938 Woodblock print Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Child 1981.117.25 The portrait depicts two girls of high caste in traditional skirts and fine jewelry. The bracelets, earings, and necklaces are of tortoise, trochus, and other shells. Yagourough carries a flower in her pierced ear as it’s common for Yapese to carry items such as flowers, cigarettes, or chewing gum wrapping there. Their lips are stained a scarlet color by the juice of betel nuts, mint leaves, and ground coral lime, a common stimulant in Oceania. Mio is also featured in Jacoulet’s print PREMIER AMOUR.
NECK ORNAMENT Vanuatu, Malekula Island, 20th century Beads strung on plant fiber bush string and bound together with cloth Gift of Harland Givelber 1990.53.10
