description Tiepolo's Hound Overview
Tiepolo's Hound is a book-length narrative poem by the Caribbean poet and playwright Derek Walcott, published in 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The poem intertwines the biographies of the Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro, who was born in the Caribbean, with Walcott's own experiences as an artist navigating colonial history and cultural identity. A defining feature of the book is the inclusion of twenty-six reproductions of Walcott's own original watercolor paintings, which accompany the text.
help Tiepolo's Hound FAQ
Does Tiepolo's Hound focus on the painter Camille Pissarro?
Yes, Derek Walcott's 2000 long poem weaves Caribbean art history together with the life and work of Camille Pissarro, who was born on the island of St. Thomas. Walcott uses Pissarro's cross-cultural background as a mirror for his own reflections on Caribbean artistic identity.
Did Derek Walcott illustrate Tiepolo's Hound himself?
Yes, Walcott illustrated the book with his own watercolor paintings, making it unusual among his publications for its visual dimension. The reproductions of his watercolors appear alongside the text throughout the poem.
What painting inspired the title of Tiepolo's Hound?
The title refers to a detail from a painting by the Venetian master Giambattista Tiepolo in which a hound appears. Walcott was captivated by this image and uses the dog as a recurring motif connecting European and Caribbean artistic traditions.
When was Tiepolo's Hound published and by whom?
Tiepolo's Hound was published in 2000 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It appeared in the latter part of Walcott's career, after he had already received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.
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