Jules Tavernier was a French-educated painter who, in his short life (1844-1889), traveled from Europe, across America, and then to Hawaii where he died at the age of 45, having left behind him hundreds of paintings of his adventures. This reviewer was fortunate enough to see many of his works at the exhibit this summer at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, for which this book, Jules Tavernier: Artist & Adventurer, was occasioned.
[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: Pomegranate
Formats: Hardcover
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | iBooks[/alert]
The book is a joint effort by Claudine Chalmers, PhD, Scott A Shields, PhD, and Alfred C. Harrison Jr.. Chalmers gives an overview of Tavernier’s life from his birth in Paris to his emigration to New York, his journey across the west to California, his time among the Native Americans and finally his departure for Hawaii. Shields provides more detail about Tavernier’s life and work in Monterey and San Francisco. Harrison ends by detailing Tavernier’s life and work in Hawaii as part of the Volcano School, of which he was perhaps the most talented and well-known practitioner.
This is a fantastic and gorgeous book. The chapters are filled with fascinating detail and stories, and the paintings – of which there are more than 90 – are expertly reproduced.
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