Torse d'une femme

Details

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Torse d'une femme
bronze with brown patina
Height: 11¾ in. (30 cm.)
Conceived circa 1894; this bronze version cast in the 1950s

Provenance

(probably) Galerie Mons & Co., Paris.
Acquired from the above, circa 1962.

Literature

M. Malingue, ed., Lettres de Gauguin à sa femme et à ses amis, Paris, 1946, pls. 24-25 (clay version illustrated).
R.J. Goldwater, Paul Gauguin, New York, 1957, p. 37 (terracotta version illustrated; as Torso of a Tahitian Woman, dated 1893).
C. Gray, Sculpture and Ceramics of Paul Gauguin, Baltimore, 1963, p. 252, no. 116 (clay version illustrated).

Exhibited

Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, and Tokyo, Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Paul Gauguin, March-June 1987, p. 130, no. 106 (illustrated in color).

Special notice

On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in lots consigned for sale. This interest may include guaranteeing a minimum price to the consignor which is secured solely by consigned property. This is such a lot.

Lot Essay

It has been tradtionally assumed that Gauguin modeled this Polynesian-like figure in Tahiti. However, virtually all of Gauguin's raw clay sculptures disintegrated in the island's tropical climate. It is therefore more likely that Gauguin executed this figure while back in France around 1894 (see lot 203). Curt Valentin (Buchholz Gallery) had Valsuani cast ten examples in bronze during the 1950s.

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