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| ===Technique and style=== | |||
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| Gauguin's initial artistic guidance was from Pissarro, but the relationship left more of a mark personally than stylistically. Gauguin's masters were ], ], ], Manet, Degas and Cézanne.<ref>Walther (2006), 7</ref><ref>Cachin (1992), 16, 123</ref><ref>Bowness (1971), 5, 15</ref> His own beliefs, and in some cases the psychology behind his work, were also influenced by philosopher ] and poet ].<ref>Bowness (1971), 10, 15</ref> | |||
| By accounts, Gauguin, like some of his contemporaries employed a technique for painting on canvas known as ''à l'essence''. For this, the oil (]) is drained from the paint and the remaining sludge of pigment is mixed with turpentine. He may have used a similar technique in preparing his monotypes, using paper instead of metal, as it would absorb oil giving the final images a matte appearance he desired.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 67</ref> He also proofed some of his existing drawings with the aid of glass, copying an underneath image onto the glass surface with watercolour or gouache for printing. Gauguin's ] were no less innovative, even to the avant-garde artists responsible for the woodcut revival happening at that time. Instead of incising his blocks with the intent of making a detailed illustration, Gauguin initially chiseled his blocks in a manner similar to wood sculpture, followed by finer tools to create detail and tonality within his bold contours. Many of his tools and techniques were considered experimental. This methodology and use of space ran parallel to his painting of flat, decorative reliefs.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 23-26</ref> | |||
| ] | |||
| Starting in Martinique, Gauguin began using ] in close proximity to achieve a muted affect.<ref>Cachin (1992), 33</ref> Shortly after this he also made his breakthroughs in non-representational colour, creating canvases that had an independent existence and vitality all their own.<ref>Cachin (1992), 52</ref> This gap between surface reality and himself displeased Pissarro and quickly led to the end of their relationship.<ref>Cachin (1992), 45</ref> His human figures at this time are also a reminder of his love affair with Japanese prints, particularly gravitating to the naivety of their figures and compositional austerity as an influence on his primitive manifesto.<ref>Cachin (1992), 33</ref> For that very reason, Gauguin was also inspired by ]. He sought out a bare emotional purity of his subjects conveyed in a straightforward way, emphasizing major forms and upright lines to clearly define shape and contour.<ref>Walther (2006), 13, 17</ref> With his French Polynesia compositions, he attempted to dissect with minute nuances the differences between civilized and primitive worlds, ultimately creating a condemning comparison.<ref>Walther (2006), 70</ref> Gauguin also used elaborate formal decoration and colouring in patterns of abstraction, attempting to harmonize man and nature.<ref>Walther (2006), 50</ref> His depictions of the natives in their natural environment are frequently evident of serenity and a self-contained sustainability.<ref>Walther (2006), 75</ref> This complimented one of Gauguin's favourite themes, which was the intrusion of the ] into day-to-day life, in one instance going so far as to recall ] tomb reliefs with ''Her Name is Vairaumati'' and ''Ta Matete''.<ref>Walther (2006), 53</ref> | |||
| In an interview with ] published on 15 March 1895, Gauguin explains that his developing tactical approach is reaching for ].<ref>Walther (2006), 13</ref> He states: | |||
| :Every feature in my paintings is carefully considered and calculated in advance. Just as in a musical composition, if you like. My simple object, which I take from daily life or from nature, is merely a pretext, which helps me by the means of a definite arrangement of lines and colours to create symphonies and harmonies. They have no counterparts at all in reality, in the vulgar sense of that word; they do not give direct expression to any idea, their only purpose is to stimulate the imagination—just as music does without the aid of ideas or pictures—simply by that mysterious affinity which exists between certain arrangements of colours and lines and our minds.<ref>Cachin (1992), 170-171</ref> | |||
| In an 1888 letter to Schuffenecker, Gauguin explains the enormous step he had taken away from Impressionism and that he was now intent on capturing the soul of nature, the ancient truths and character of its scenery and inhabitants. Gauguin wrote: | |||
| :Don't copy nature too literally. Art is an abstraction. Derive it from nature as you dream in nature's presence, and think more about the act of creation than the outcome.<ref>Cachin (1992), 38</ref> | |||
| ===Other mediums=== | |||
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| | image1 = Gauguin - Suite Volpini K01Aa.jpg | |||
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| | caption1 = ''Leda (Design for a China Plate)'', 1889, zincograph on yellow paper with watercolour and gouache, ] | |||
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| | image2 = Gauguin Aha Oe Feii monotype.jpg | |||
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| | caption2 = ''Aha oe feii'', 1894, watercolour monotype with pen and red and black ink, ] | |||
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| Gauguin began making prints in 1889, highlighted by a series of zincographs commissioned by Theo van Gogh known as the ''Volpini Suite'', which also appeared in the Cafe des Arts show of 1889. Gauguin didn't waver from his printing inexperience and made a number of provocative and unorthodox choices, such as a zinc plate instead of limestone (]), wide margins and large sheets of yellow poster paper.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 19</ref><ref>Bowness (1971), 11</ref> The result was vivid to the point of garish, but foreshadows his more elaborate experiments with colour printing and intent to elevate monochromatic images. His first masterpieces of printing were from the ''Noa Noa Suite'' of 1893–94 where he essentially reinvented the medium of woodcutting, bringing it into the modern era. He started the series shortly after returning from Tahiti, eager to reclaim a leadership position within the avant-garde and share pictures based on his French Polynesia excursion. These woodcut prints were shown at his unsuccessful 1893 show at Paul Durand-Ruel's, and most were directly related to paintings of his in which he had revised the original composition. They were shown again at a small show in his studio in 1894, where he garnered rare critical praise for his exceptional painterly and sculptural effects. Gauguin's emerging preference for the woodcut was not only a natural extension of his wood reliefs and sculpture, but may have also been provoked by its historical significance to medieval artisans and the Japanese.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 19-24</ref> | |||
| ] | |||
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| Gauguin started watercolour monotyping in 1894, likely overlapping his ''Noa Noa'' woodcuts, perhaps even serving as a source of inspiration for them. His techniques remained innovative and it was an apt medium for him as it didn't require elaborate equipment, such as a printing press. Despite often being a source of practice for related paintings, sculptures or woodcuts, his monotype innovation offers a distinctly ethereal aesthetic; ghostly afterimages that may express his desire to convey the immemorial truths of nature. His next major woodcut and monotype project wasn't until 1898–99, known as the ''Vollard Suite''. He completed this enterprising series of 475 prints from some twenty different compositions and sent them to dealer Ambroise Vollard, despite not compromising to his request for salable, conformed work. Vollard was unsatisfied and made no effort to sell them. Gauguin's series is starkly unified with black and white aesthetic and may have intended the prints to be similar to a set of ], in which they may be laid out in any order to create multiple panoramic landscapes.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 26-29</ref> This activity of arranging and rearranging was similar to his own process of repurposing his images and motifs, as well as a ] tendency.<ref>Cachin (1992), 119</ref> He printed the work on tissue-thin Japanese paper and the multiple proofs of gray and black could be arranged on top of one another, each transparency of colour showing through to produce a rich, ] effect.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 30</ref> | |||
| In 1899 he started his radical experiment: oil transfer drawings. Much like his watercolour monotype technique, it was a hybrid of drawing and printmaking. The transfers were the grand culmination of his quest for an aesthetic of primordial suggestion, which seems to be relayed in his results that echo ancient rubbings, worn frescos and cave paintings. Gauguin's technical progress from monotyping to the oil transfers is quite noticeable, advancing from small sketches to ambitiously large, highly finished sheets. With these transfers he created depth and texture by printing multiple layers onto the same sheet, beginning with graphite pencil and black ink for delineation, before moving to blue crayon to reinforce line and add shading. He would often complete the image with a wash of oiled-down olive or brown ink. The practice consumed Gauguin until his death, fueling his imagination and conception of new subjects and themes for his paintings. This collection was also sent to Vollard who remained unimpressed. Gauguin prized oil transfers for the way they transformed the quality of drawn line. His process, nearly alchemical in nature, had elements of chance by which unexpected marks and textures regularly arose, something that fascinated him. In metamorphosing a drawing into a print, Gauguin made a calculated decision of relinquishing legibility in order to gain mystery and abstraction.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 30-32</ref> | |||
| He worked in wood throughout his career, particularly during his most prolific periods, and is known for having achieved radical carving results before doing so with painting. Even in his earliest shows, Gauguin often included wood sculpture in his display, from which he built his reputation as a connoisseur of the so-called primitive. A number of his early carvings appear to be influenced by ] and ].<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 37</ref> In correspondence, he also asserts a passion for ] and the masterful colouring of ] and ].<ref>Cachin (1992), 180-181</ref> | |||
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