Spotlight: Paul Gauguin's "Te Atua (The Gods)"

Experimental artist Paul Gauguin contributed to the avant-garde revival of woodcut prints in the1890s. "Te Atua (The Gods)" is one in a series of fourteen which documented the last years of Gauguin's residence in Tahiti. It exemplifies the way Gauguin's art handled the complexities of religions and their associated symbolisms. Elizabeth C. Childs, Professor of Art History and chair of the Department of Art History and Archeology, explores the image's rich fusion of symbolism from Christian, Polynesian, and Buddhist traditions and delves into the modernist elements of Gauguin's work.