- Museum number
- 1968,0210.31
- Title
- Object: Two Marquesans
- Description
-
Two heads of Marquesan women, one in profile, the other three-quarters, both to right, against a background of wooden carvings. c.1902
Recto: Traced monotype, printed in black-brown with lighter brown areas
Verso: Pencil drawing used to make the tracing
- Production date
- 1902 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 321 millimetres
-
Width: 510 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Bibliography:
C. Morice, 'Paul Gaugin', 2nd edn, Paris, 1920, p. 100 (repr.); J. Rewald, 'Gaugin', London and Toronto, 1939, p. 13 (repr.).
The two heads are closely related to a late painting, 'Les Amants', of 1902 (Wildenstein 614). They derive from sketches made after Delacroix's painting 'Le naufrage de Don Juan' in the Louvre. The technique of the traced monotype was devised by Gauguin, and has been much employed since by artists such as Paul Klee. The drawing is made in pencil on the verso, while pressing the recto of the sheet against a tacky ink. The paper picks up the ink where it is pressed against it. In this way Gauguin produced a wide fuzzy line with random splotches - a texture that he found much more interesting than a sharp pencil line.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1968 Jun, BM, 'The César Mange de Hauke Bequest', no.
1988 Sep-Dec, Chicago, Art Institute, The Art of Paul Gauguin
2003/4, Sep-Jan, Paris, Grand Palais, Gauguin Tahiti: l'atelier des tropiques, no.177
2004, Feb-Jun, Boston, Mus Fine Arts, Gauguin Tahiti: l'atelier des tropiques, no.
2006 Sep-Nov, BM, Gauguin in the Pacific, display in Mich.end of Room 90
2010/11 Sep-Jan, London, Tate Modern, Paul Gauguin: Maker of Myth
2012/13, Oct-Jan, Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza, 'Voyage to the Exotic'
2014, Feb-Jun, New York, MoMA, 'Gauguin/Impressions'
2020, 20 February – 9 August, London, BM, G90, ‘French Impressions: prints from Manet to Cézanne’ (on display until 23 March 2020 - exhibition closed due to COVID)
- Acquisition date
- 1968
- Acquisition notes
- Field gives the provenance as Gustave Fayet (?), and Victor Segalen. Paul Hulton ('The César Mange de Hauke Bequest', BM 1968, p.38) gives a provenance from Lucien Guiraud, presumably basing himself on evidence given him by Paul Brame. These require confirmation.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1968,0210.31