The Day will look at the enduring Western obsession with, and invention of, the so-called
‘Exotic’ or ‘Noble Savage’, starting with the first discovery of the Island of Tahiti in1767.
The three lectures will demonstrate charting the impact of English and European
influence in this part of the World, through painted images of the island and their people.
All this is as seen through the eyes of not only Captain Cook and those who came before
him, but also through the eyes of the artists that accompanied these pioneering voyages,
and into the 19th and early 20th century with the images of Gauguin.