Oviri

Details

After Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Oviri
signed with initials 'PGO' (on the right side of the base), titled 'OVIRI' (on the front of the base), numbered and stamped with foundry mark '1/12 C. VALSUANI CIRE PERDUE' (on the back of the base)
bronze with brown patina
Height: 29 in. (73.7 cm.)
Conceived circa 1893-1894

Provenance

Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 5 December 1974, lot 261.
Dr. Franz Pucher, Lichtenstein; sale, Christie's, New York, 14 November 1984, lot 516.
Acquired at the above sale by the late owners.

Literature

H. Castets, "Gauguin," Revue universelle, III:xcvi, 15 October 1903, p. 536.
C. Morice, Paul Gauguin, Paris, 1919, p. 158 (ceramic version illustrated, p. 159).
C. Kunstler, Gauguin, Peintre maudit, Paris, 1937, p. 155, pl. 57 (ceramic version illustrated).
A. Vollard, Souvenirs d'un marchand de tableaux, Paris, 1937, p. 197.
M. Malingue, Gauguin, Monaco, 1943, p. 157 (ceramic version illustrated, p. 151).
C. Gray, Sculpture and Ceramics of Paul Gauguin, Baltimore, 1963, pp. 245-257, no. 113 (ceramic version illustrated).
M. Bodelsen, Gauguin's Ceramics: A Study in the Development of his Art, London, 1964, p. 235, no. 57 (ceramic version illustrated, fig. 99).
J. Richardson, A Life of Picasso, 1886-1906, New York, 1991, vol. I, pp. 459 and 461 (ceramic version illustrated, p. 460).

Exhibited

Tokyo, Seibu Department Store; Kyoto, Musée National d'Art Moderne, and Fukuoka, Centre Culturel, Gauguin, August 1969, no. 110.
Munich, Haus der Kunst, Weltkulturen und Moderne Kunst, XX Olympics, July-August 1972, no. 1726.

Lot Essay

This bronze was cast from a ceramic by Gauguin executed circa 1893-1894. According to Christopher Gray, Gauguin "considered Oviri among his finest works and desired it to be placed over his grave. There already exists three casts in plaster which have been given the surface finish of wood. One copy was given to Daniel de Monfreid. The second was kept by [Gustave] Fayet, and passed into the collection of his son, Léon. The third was kept by the artist who made the casts." (op. cit., p. 245) A special cast was erected 29 March, 1973 on Gauguin's tomb in the cemetery of Atuana by the Foundation Singer-Polignac.

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