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拍品专文
This unrecorded monotype of a beach scene is closely related, albeit reversed and in a horizontal format, to a painting signed and dated 1902 (Wildenstein 618, Brettell 272; Private collection, New York – see fig. 1). Field also records a traced monotype, in the same direction as the painting (Field 99, Brettell 273; Museé du Quai Branly, Paris).
The painting as well as the traced monotype have traditionally been known as Famille Tahitienne, a somewhat misleading title as by 1902 Gauguin was living on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. It is however interesting to note that several elements of the landscape, such as the three slender tree trunks, the boat in the surf, and even the presence of the goat, stem from a Tahitian painting of 1897-98 (Tarari maruru, Wildenstein 562; State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The location of the scene aside, Brettell doubts that the figures represent a family at all. Instead he argues that it is a group of male bathers, inspired, in particular in the central figure with his hands at the hip, by Cézanne’s Baigneurs, the lithographic version of which Gauguin may have seen (Brettell, pp. 480-484).
The present monotype, executed in pure gouache around 1902, belongs to the small group of Gauguin’s late monotypes. The tan paper is consistent with other prints from this period, yet in other respects it differs markedly from them (cf. Field 133-139, p. 38-39; Brettell 275-277). In particular, it lacks all tracing lines, which to our knowledge sets it apart from all other monotypes by the artist. The image is entirely composed of loosely applied strokes or patches of gouache, presumably painted onto a sheet of glass and then transferred onto the paper. It seems that Gauguin to a large degree left it to chance how the paint reacted to the glass and the paper.
The effect is almost impressionist: the paper is only dappled with pigments, imitating the midday sunlight of the tropics, almost blinding in its intensity and cancelling out colours.
Comparing this gouache monotype with the related painting and the traced monotype, it is fascinating to see that, even in this last year of his life and increasingly isolated from the world, Gauguin’s creative urge was unabated. By treating the same subject in three different media, he created three related, yet radically different works of art. He was still trying out new working methods, materials and effects, still insisting on his ‘right to dare everything’ (Gauguin a letter to Daniel de Monfreid, October 1902).
The Wildenstein Institute, Paris, confirmed that the present monotype would be included in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Paul Gauguin. A copy of the their letter of 10 October 2003 (reference 03.10.10/ 8992/F143) is available upon request.
The painting as well as the traced monotype have traditionally been known as Famille Tahitienne, a somewhat misleading title as by 1902 Gauguin was living on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas. It is however interesting to note that several elements of the landscape, such as the three slender tree trunks, the boat in the surf, and even the presence of the goat, stem from a Tahitian painting of 1897-98 (Tarari maruru, Wildenstein 562; State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). The location of the scene aside, Brettell doubts that the figures represent a family at all. Instead he argues that it is a group of male bathers, inspired, in particular in the central figure with his hands at the hip, by Cézanne’s Baigneurs, the lithographic version of which Gauguin may have seen (Brettell, pp. 480-484).
The present monotype, executed in pure gouache around 1902, belongs to the small group of Gauguin’s late monotypes. The tan paper is consistent with other prints from this period, yet in other respects it differs markedly from them (cf. Field 133-139, p. 38-39; Brettell 275-277). In particular, it lacks all tracing lines, which to our knowledge sets it apart from all other monotypes by the artist. The image is entirely composed of loosely applied strokes or patches of gouache, presumably painted onto a sheet of glass and then transferred onto the paper. It seems that Gauguin to a large degree left it to chance how the paint reacted to the glass and the paper.
The effect is almost impressionist: the paper is only dappled with pigments, imitating the midday sunlight of the tropics, almost blinding in its intensity and cancelling out colours.
Comparing this gouache monotype with the related painting and the traced monotype, it is fascinating to see that, even in this last year of his life and increasingly isolated from the world, Gauguin’s creative urge was unabated. By treating the same subject in three different media, he created three related, yet radically different works of art. He was still trying out new working methods, materials and effects, still insisting on his ‘right to dare everything’ (Gauguin a letter to Daniel de Monfreid, October 1902).
The Wildenstein Institute, Paris, confirmed that the present monotype would be included in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of works by Paul Gauguin. A copy of the their letter of 10 October 2003 (reference 03.10.10/ 8992/F143) is available upon request.