Paul Gauguin

Léonce Brault, Tahiti (avocat de l'artiste)
Collection particulière, France (hérité du précédent)
Acquis du précédent en 1995 par le propriétaire actuel

The figure is mounted in a wooden base. The surface is varies from roughly hewn to smooth, and bears a vanish that is slightly worn. There are minor cracks running vertically in the back of the figure and at the bottom of the proper left side. There is also a tiny scratch in the face, but this appears to be inherent to the medium. Over all, this work is in very good condition.
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inscribed with the monogram 'PGO' (at the bottom), wood. Probably executed circa 1892-3.

Fig. 1  L'œuvre sous un autre angle

Fig. 2  Détail de l'œuvre

Fig. 3  Paul Gauguin, Oviri, 1894, grès émaillé, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Fig. 4  Paul Gauguin, E haere oe i hia (Où vas-tu?), 1892, huile sur toile, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Paul Gauguin a toujours rêvé fuir le monde occidental qu'il jugeait corrompu et confiné dans des mœurs étriquées, pour découvrir une société pure et écouler ses jour dans un monde préservé : « Vivre là-bas dans la paix et l'extase de mon seul art. Entouré par une nouvelle famille... ici à Tahiti, je serai capable d'écouter le silence des suaves nuits tropicales, la douce mélodie des battements de mon cœur en harmonie avec les êtres mystérieux de mon entourage » (C. Becker, Paul Gauguin, Tahiti, Verlag, 1998, p. 22). Telles sont les pensées de Gauguin avant son départ pour Tahiti. Contrairement à ses attentes, ce qu'il y découvre n'est pas conforme au paradis édénique tant espéré. En d'autres termes, Gauguin est d'emblée confronté à l'implacable réalité d'une terre colonisée depuis le dix-huitième siècle, imprégnée de coutumes françaises.

Les premières années de Gauguin à Tahiti, de 1891 à 1893, bien qu'éprouvantes, sont néanmoins des années fertiles au cours desquelles Gauguin acquiert une certaine maturité artistique. Christopher Grey note ainsi qu'à son arrivée, "durant deux années brèves et déstabilisantes, Gauguin produit soixante-six peintures et un nombre considérable de sculptures. Seule une infime part de cette production est aujourd'hui connue" (Christopher Gray, Sculptures et céramiques de Paul Gauguin, New York, 1980, p. 53)

Léonce Brault, avocat de Gauguin, est l'un des rares étrangers que l'artiste fréquente à Tahiti. Directement issue de la collection de la famille Brault, Figure tahitienne est un superbe exemple d'une des rares sculptures conçues lors du premier séjour de l'artiste dans les îles. A partir d'une forme cylindrique, Gauguin explore un sujet parmi les plus célèbres de son répertoire : la femme tahitienne. Ce qui pourrait ressembler à une robuste figure de femme apparait ici sublimé par les lignes légères de la sculpture, conférant à l'ensemble une merveilleuse impression de fluidité.

La qualité de ce bois "aito", dense et raffiné, attire l'œil du spectateur tant par son subtil travail de ciselure que par l'éclat issu de son polissage. L'attitude sauvage de cette figure féminine domine : ses longs cheveux ondulés, épars, évoquent la sensualité des modèles tahitiens que l'on retrouve dans les peintures de l'artiste. D'une grâce et d'une élégance rare, cette magnifique sculpture en bois est un talisman symbolique de l'influence du premier voyage de Gauguin en Polynésie.

 

Having left for Tahiti in 1891, Paul Gauguin's dream had always been to abandon what he viewed as the claustrophobic confines of a corrupt Western world in search of an untouched land and an unspoiled society: "To live there in Peace and ecstasy for my art alone. Surrounded by a new family...There in Tahiti, I will be able to listen to the silence of the lovely tropical nights, to the soft murmuring music of the movements of my heart in loving harmony with the mysterious beings in my entourage"(C. Becker, Paul Gauguin, Tahiti, Verlag, 1998, p. 22). Such were Gauguin's thoughts before his departure.  However, what awaited him was not the uncorrupted paradise he was expecting but instead a rude awakening.  Once he arrived, he was faced with what was -and what had been since the late eighteenth century- essentially a French colony; in other words, a Tahiti that no longer exercised its traditional culture but attempted to emulate its adopted mother country.

Though the artist encountered harsh difficulties throughout his first stay in Tahiti, from 1891 to 1893, he nevertheless matured incredibly as an artist and, as Christopher Grey notes, "During a brief and troubled two years, he produced sixty-six paintings and a number of works in sculpture of which ten that we know of today are only a fraction" (C. Gray, Sculptures and Ceramics of Paul Gauguin, New York, 1980, p. 53).

One of Gauguin's few foreign relations in Tahiti was Léonce Brault, his lawyer. Acquired directly from the Brault family, the present work is a superb example of one of the rare sculptures left from his first stay on the islands. A cylindrical form, it depicts one of his most famous subjects - the Tahitian women.

What should resemble a robust female figure appears more refined and beautiful due to the smooth lines of the sculpture's tactile surface which create a wonderful sense of fluidity, rendering the work elegant and graceful.

Furthermore, the quality of this type of local "aito" wood is dense yet fine, veined with delicate black lines, lushly polished and worked to a shine that is sure to capture the attention of the viewer. The most enticing characteristic of this woman is her wild, free-flowing long hair, which evokes the sensuality of not only the many Tahitian models portrayed in his paintings, but also the sentiment that the artist endeavored to capture at the time. This magnificent wood carving is a rare and symbolic example of the artist's influential first years on the Polynesian Islands.