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Screech, Matthew. "Gauguin and Van Gogh Meet the Ninth Art: Postmodernism and Myths about Great Artists." European Comic Art 13. (2020): 21–44. Added by: joachim (01/10/2023, 07:56) Last edited by: joachim (01/10/2023, 08:31) |
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| Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3167/eca.2020.130103 BibTeX citation key: Screech2020 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Art, Canon, Comic biography, Postmodernism Creators: Screech Collection: European Comic Art |
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| Abstract |
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This article analyses how a late twentieth-century/early twenty-first-century development in bandes dessinées, which combines historical novels with biographies, expresses paradoxical attitudes towards mythologies surrounding Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh. Firstly, I demonstrate that the paradox stems from a simultaneous desire for and suspicion of master narratives, identified as intrinsic to postmodernism by Linda Hutcheon. Then I establish how eight graphic novels perpetuate pre-existing mythological master narratives about Gauguin and Van Gogh. Nevertheless, those mythologies simultaneously arouse scepticism: myths do not express exemplary universal truths; myths are artificial and fictionalised constructs whose status in reality is dubious. The albums convey tension between desire and suspicion regarding myths by a variety of devices. These include sequenced panels, circular plots, unreliable witnesses, fictional insertions, parodies and mock realism.
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