Vanishing Paradise

Elizabeth C. Childs is Etta and Mark Steinberg Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University.

• Acknowledgments Preface: Regarding Tahiti 1. Histories of an Island and an Idea: From Tahiti to New Cythera 2. Garden of Eden to Dying Paradise: The Foundational Myths of Tahiti 3. Polynesia in Paris: Paul Gauguin in Search of the Exotic at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 4. The Colonial Lens: Gauguin, Primitivism, and Photography 5. Henry Adams, Indolence, and Ethnic Tourism in Tahiti 6. John La Farge and the Sensuousness of Regret 7. Against Vanishing Notes Glossary of Tahitian Terms Selected Bibliography List of Illustrations Index

"I can't recall when I've been so enthralled by a book about 19th century art. Elizabeth Childs' Vanishing Paradise is an exhaustive, beautifully written account of colonialism in Tahiti and its enduring influence on art in the West." -- Farisa Khalid PopMatters.com "A much-needed, deeply humane view of artists and Tahiti that is truly elegant and refreshingly complex... Childs's scholarship is consistently captivating, and this work is as transporting as a book analyzing the power of Tahiti should be." -- James E. Housefield CHOICE "Childs is unafraid to examine American and European attitudes to Tahitian culture. She is curious and intellectually resolute, honest in her careful delving into Tahiti's history and culture ... an impressive examination of a very difficult and complex subject." -- Susan Wilson Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies