THE DISAPPEARING GAUGUIN

I have been chasing a painting since 2017. I have visited libraries and archives in California, New York, and Paris. I have scoured the internet. And I am at the point that I need to work some things out with an audience that's curious about the intersection between art and history, museums and the (rest of) the art world. That's why I made this blog.

California Gold Rush heiress Eila Haggin McKee bought a still life signed "P.G." (for Paul Gauguin) from a reputable New York dealer in 1929.  The painting--Flowers and Fruit--joined the Haggin Museum collection in Stockton, CA, in 1939. In 2018, Gauguin experts dismissed it as a forgery.

My project is to trace the history of Flowers and Fruit.  I have amassed masses of evidence about the men and women who bought and sold the painting. I have files of information about Paul Gauguin, his friends and enemies. This painting's life story is wrapped up in the history of the way museums and art expertise have functioned--and my research has been a long unfurling journey into how the digital world can change knowledge creation.

Join me at The Disappearing Gauguin while I work out the process: I'll share bits of the story (some historical gossip, some character sketches, some maps), thoughts about writing and letting go of perfection (it's hard), reflections on how research translates into knowledge--and on the relationship between knowledge and power.