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Paul GAUGUIN (Paris 1848 - Atuona 1903)
Moses on the Mountai…
See original version (French)
25
-
Paul GAUGUIN (Paris 1848 - Atuona 1903)
Moses on the Mountai…
See original version (French)
Estimate €40,000 - €60,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Paul GAUGUIN (Paris 1848 - Atuona 1903)
Moses on the Mountain and Tahitian Women Playing the Flute
Ink and watercolour on double-sided paper
Executed around 1893-94
37.8 x 24.5 cm on view
Signed G (lower right of upper drawing)
This work will be included in the digital Catalogue Raisonné of Gauguin, currently being prepared under the auspices of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.
Provenance
Marie-Jeanne Gloanec, Pont-Aven;
then by inheritance to the present owner
Exhibition:
Gauguin et le groupe de Pont-Aven ; Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts, , 1950, p. 22, no. 16 (titled Moise sur la montagne );
Kenavo Monsieur Gauguin; Pont-Aven, Musée de Pont-Aven, 2003, pp. 112-113, reproduced in colour
Bibliography:
Lee van Dowski , Die Wahrheit ûber Gauguin; Darmstadt, 1973, p117, reproduced
Daniel Wildenstein and Raymond Cogniat, Paul Gauguin, Paris , 1974, p89, n° 4 partially reproduced
"Towards the middle of the nineteenth century, Courbet proclaimed: "Painting is the representation of visible objects... The essence of realism is the negation of the ideal"; but in 1900 Gauguin retorted: "I am not a painter after nature, today less than before. Everything with me happens in my wild imagination. How far we have come! From then on, Gauguin, along with the Symbolists, saw in forms and things only "the visible meaning of a thought"; a new conception of life and the world had appeared."
René Huyche in Musée de Beaux-Arts de Quimper, Gauguin et le groupe de Pont-Aven, Paris, Editions des Musées nationaux, 1950, p. 7
In a letter dated 21 June 1950, Gilberte Martin-Méry explained to Georges Salles, Director of the Musées de France, her plans for an exhibition devoted to Gauguin and the Pont-Aven group. She explained her difficulty in assembling a coherent group of works by Gauguin, mentioning in particular the Illustrated Poem, Moses on the Mountain and Tahitian Women Playing the Flute:
Unfortunately, there is no longer any Gauguin in the Pont-Aven and Pouldu region: only a sketch and an illustrated poem by Gauguin, Moïse sur la montagne, preserved by the last descendants of the Le Gloanec pension [...]". [...] "
Extract from a letter by Gilberte Martin-Méry in Musée de Beaux-Arts de Quimper, Gauguin et le groupe de Pont-Aven, Paris, Editions des Musées nationaux, 1950, pp. 5-6.
This work is an extract from a page in the visitors' book of the Auberge Gloanec, the emblematic place where the painters of the Pont-Aven School used to gather. It has remained in the family of the inn's proprietress for generations, and has never been sold on the art market before.
When we explored the back of this sheet, we made a previously unpublished discovery: it contains a poem entitled L'Aubépine blanche et le genêt d'or (The White Hawthorn and the Golden Broom). It mentions the Bois d'Amour, the place that inspired Paul Sérusier's 1888 painting, the founding work of the Nabis movement.
Everything fits together: Gauguin's influence on the Nabis movement and the Pont-Aven School, the influence of Brittany on his work and his taste for places far removed from the corruption of human civilisation. The insertion at the top of the page of the visitors' book of a drawing depicting two Tahitian women contemplating the horizon echoes his travels to faraway lands, always in search of a human existence devoid of all materialism.
Gauguin, determined to turn this page into an autobiographical work, adopted a singular approach. He fused music, poetry and drawing. Inspired perhaps by Alfred Jarry, who stayed with him at the Auberge in 1894, the painter composed a few verses in which humour predominated, showing a certain irony and distance from social conventions:
"Moses on the mountain said to his listeners
Let those who throw their rubbish out of the window tie up their bundle carefully
Let them watch to see if the gardener passes by, dies or doesn't turn up
And above all, let them not, in bitter derision, take the guard for a postman and ask him for a letter with a load on it".
At the same time, the artist introduces a few musical notes, a preamble to the well-known aria "Au clair de la lune", wittily signed with the pseudonym "Gouneau", in probable reference to Charles Gounod, composer of operas and religious music in the early 19th century. Finally, at the bottom of the page, he depicts, in ink and watercolour, a man sitting on a rock facing the sea at sunset. The head was probably added later. Is it a representation of Moses on the Mountain or a self-portrait by Gauguin himself? In any case, it is certain that this sheet transcends the boundaries of the arts and establishes Paul Gauguin as a versatile artist, creating works that are symbolic and mystical, but imbued with a sarcastic spirit.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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