Femmes, Animaux, Feuillages
Paul Gauguin (Paris 1848 – Atuona, French Polynesia 1903)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1898
Materials
Tissue-thin laid Japan paper Black ink
Measurements
22.7 cm (Width); 30 cm (Length)
Place of origin
Tahiti (French Polynesia : Island)
Order this imageCollection
Mottisfont, Hampshire
NT 2900354
Summary
Woodcut on laid paper, Femmes, Animaux, Feuillages (Women, Animals, Foliage), by Paul Gauguin (Paris 1848 – Atuona, French Polynesia 1903), 1898. A woodcut printed in black ink on tissue-thin laid Japan paper, second (final) state, depicting a leafy fruit tree with animals and two seated women at centre, with one standing woman (draped) at left and another (nude) at right. Monogrammed lower left, in image: 'P G'; inscribed on image, in ink: 'no. 22'. From the edition of no more than 40 printed by the artist.
Full description
The French artist Paul Gauguin (Paris, 1848 - Atuona, French Polynesia, 1903), first visited the Pacific island of Tahiti to paint in 1890, staying until 1893. He returned to Tahiti for a second residence in 1895, and in 1898 he began to produce woodblock prints such as this. Gauguin mounted one impression of this woodcut inside the back cover of his manuscript L'Esprit Moderne et le Catholique with the caption ‘Paradis Perdu’ (Paradise lost), presumably in reference to Milton’s epic poem of that title, narrating the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden. This clue suggests that the frieze-like composition is intended to be read from right to left. [1] A naked Eve-like figure on the right appears to be about to pluck a fruit from the tree in Paradise, suggesting that the fully-clothed woman on the left has by now lost her ‘innocence’ and comes from a 'civilised' world. Two women in the middle, inhabit Gauguin’s artistic recasting of the island as an unfettered ‘natural’ paradise, surrounded by plants and animals inspired by Tahitian myth. Recent scholarship has provided new perspectives on Gauguin’s time in the Pacific, emphasising the fictive nature of the ‘exotic’ depiction of a ‘primitive’ Tahiti undisturbed by modernity, which was in fact a diverse, colonised society. His artistic and personal life in the island were closely intertwined. While in Tahiti, Gauguin lived with two Tahitians and fathered children with each of these ‘wives’. The identity of many of his female Tahitian models has not been documented but one of them is known to have been his ‘wife’ from his first stay, called Teha'amana, also known as Tehura. According to his autobiographical journal, Noa Noa, she was was around 13 years old when they met. The series of woodcuts of which this example forms a part, was of particular personal importance to Gauguin, and he pasted many of them onto the wall of his last home, the Maison du Jouir (House of Pleasure) on the island of Hiva Oa. Gauguin produced no more than 40 copies of this work, of which this example is number 22. The original woodblock is in the National Gallery, Prague, with other numbered examples in The National Gallery, Washington DC (no.9 & no.25), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (no.13) and the Art Institute Chicago (no.29) amongst others. Gauguin’s Tahitian woodblocks were carved from pieces of driftwood which Gauguin found on the island's beaches. He used these to hand-print on tissue-thin sheets of Japanese paper supplied to him by the young Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard. Vollard had apparently wanted polished, easily marketable works, but this ran against Gauguin's intentions. In a letter to Vollard, Gauguin wrote, 'I neither search for nor find technical perfection (There is no scarcity in makers of conventional lithographs.) Thus, if you feel like it, send me paper and money. [2] In February 1900 Gauguin sent the works he had printed to Vollard in Paris, though the dealer apparently made little effort to sell them. This work was originally in the collection of the British historian and university administrator Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943) who was an early champion and collector of avant garde and abstract art before the First World War. He continued to champion modern art and in the 1920s was a committee member of the Contemporary Art Society. Maud Russell, the owner of Mottisfont Abbey was also a member of the Contemporary Art Society, and purchased this piece from the Leicester Galleries, London in March 1944. It remained in her collection until her death in 1982. [1] Gauguin presented a narrative frieze, to be read from right to left, on his major painting D'oú venons-nou? Que Sommes Nou? Oú allons-nous? (Where do we Come From? What are We? Where are we Going?) in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [2] Paul Gauguin to Ambrose Vollard, April 1897. Quoted in John Rewald, 'The Genius and the Dealer', Art News, May 1959, p.62.
Provenance
Sir Michael Ernest Sadler; Leicester Galleries, London, Etchings, Lithographs and woodcuts from the collection of the late Sir Michael E Sadler, 1944, no. 105; purchased by Maud Russell (née Nelke), March 1944; willed by Maud Russell to Lady Glenconner as 'my small lithograph or woodcut by Gauguin of a scene in Tahiti'; with Simon Theobald Ltd, London, and purchased by the National Trust for Mottisfont Abbey, partly funded by a donation from Lydia Lim, 2019.
Marks and inscriptions
Reverse of frame top middle.: Label with printed inscription, 'Ernest Michael Sadler University College Oxford' Reverse of frame top right: Damaged label with printed numeric inscription, '[?]5" Reverse of frame directly below Label No.1: Printed label in red ink from the Leicester Galleries, London with handwritten additions in italics: Exhibition of Works by Etchings, Lithographs & Woodcuts from the Collection of the Late Michael Sadler Held at The Leicester Galleries , Leicester Square, London March 1944 No. 105 Title Femmes Animaux et Feuillages P.Gauguin Purchaser Mrs Gilbert Russell Reverse of frame to right of Label No.3: White Chalk of number 90 in a circle. Reverse of frame in centre. Attached upside down. Some loss to edges: Printed label in black ink inside a border. James Bourlet & Sons, [?] Fine Art Packers , Frame Makers, [?] B 97857 17 & 18 Nassau Street Mortimer Street, W. Phones:- Museum 1871 & 7588. Reverse of frame centre bottom.: Printed label in black ink. Ernest Brown & Phillips, Ltd. The Leicester Galleries Leicester Square, LONDON, W.C. 2 Telephone 3375 Whitehall Fine Art Publishers Pictures, Drawings and Engravings Framing, Mounting and Gilding Pictures and Engravings Cleaned and Restored Works of Art Purchased
Makers and roles
Paul Gauguin (Paris 1848 – Atuona, French Polynesia 1903), publisher
References
Brettell et al 1988-9: Richard R. Brettell et al, The Art of Paul Gauguin, The National Gallery of Art, Washington and The Art Institute of Chicago, 1988-89, no. 237 and pp. 428-36, Richard Brettell with Peter Zegers, 'Suite of Late Woodcuts' Mongan, Kornfeld and Joachim 1988: Elizabeth Mongan, Eberhard W. Kornfeld and Harold Joachim (with assistance from Christine E. Stauffer), Paul Gauguin: Catalogue raisonné of his Prints, Bern, Galerie Kornfeld, 1988, 43 II A Figura 2014: Starr Figura, Gauguin, Metamorphoses, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 2014, p.164, no.129