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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the new critical catalogue of Paul Gauguin's works being prepared by the Wildenstein Institute.
In June 1889 Gauguin returned to Pont-Aven for his third extended stay in Britanny, where he executed Petit breton accoudé and its verso, Jeune fille, while completing some of his greatest and most significant Breton paintings.
The present drawing is related to the painting Petit breton à l'oie, 1889 (Wildenstein no. 367; Private collection), and shows the young boy leaning against the suggested outline of the boulder visible in the oil. A further related drawing, Deux petits Bretons (Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie) shows the boy both perching on the boulder and rising to put his hands to his mouth to ampliphy the sound of his call; perhaps he calls to the goose, but it is the silent, watchful figure in the present drawing which reappears in the oil.
With its bold outlines and delicate washes of colour, it is clear that Gauguin's line dominates his colour, and this reflects the artist's Cloissonist style which he had developed alongside the theorist of the movement, Émile Bernard. Taking their cue from medieval stained glass windows and characterised by heavy lines, flat forms and the rejection of gradation of colour, Gauguin's Cloissonism reached its height in this year when Gauguin completed what is perhaps his masterpiece of the period, Le Christ jaune (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY).
In June 1889 Gauguin returned to Pont-Aven for his third extended stay in Britanny, where he executed Petit breton accoudé and its verso, Jeune fille, while completing some of his greatest and most significant Breton paintings.
The present drawing is related to the painting Petit breton à l'oie, 1889 (Wildenstein no. 367; Private collection), and shows the young boy leaning against the suggested outline of the boulder visible in the oil. A further related drawing, Deux petits Bretons (Musée National des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie) shows the boy both perching on the boulder and rising to put his hands to his mouth to ampliphy the sound of his call; perhaps he calls to the goose, but it is the silent, watchful figure in the present drawing which reappears in the oil.
With its bold outlines and delicate washes of colour, it is clear that Gauguin's line dominates his colour, and this reflects the artist's Cloissonist style which he had developed alongside the theorist of the movement, Émile Bernard. Taking their cue from medieval stained glass windows and characterised by heavy lines, flat forms and the rejection of gradation of colour, Gauguin's Cloissonism reached its height in this year when Gauguin completed what is perhaps his masterpiece of the period, Le Christ jaune (Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY).