A Man with an Axe
A Man with an Axe | |
---|---|
Artist | Paul Gauguin |
Year | 1891 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
A Man with an Axe is an 1891 oil on canvas painting by Paul Gauguin, now in a Swiss private collection.[1] It is one his first major paintings from his Tahiti period being painted shortly after his arrival in Papeete.[2] A study for it is now in the Art Institute of Chicago.[3]
History
Paul Gauguin would arrive in Papeete on Tahiti in the summer of 1891. He came looking a simplicity that he had failed to find in Paris.[4] The scene of a man with an axe chopping at a dead tree and a woman arranging nets was one that Gauguin observed in front of his hut.[2] Gauguin referred to this central figure as "Totefa", "Jotepha", "Jotefa" and versions of Joseph" although these may all be his own inventions.[5] Gauguin used some of the most potent colours that had been seen in painting up until that point which he explained as his observations of the natural hues of Tahiti and his forgoing of the traditional European studio procedure.[6]
It has been interpreted that the painting represents the ending of Gauguin moral crisis and his liberation from the conventions of European culture.[7] It has also been said to represent the Gauguin's fascination with the "primitive"; with the man representing raw masculine power and the woman being a symbol of pre-Christian innocent sexuality.[a][9]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ According to David Sweetman since she is bare-breasted it "shows that the scene could not have been taken from life–such sights were no longer available to him [...] Rather, the whole picture is an evocation of a golden age of the innocent Tahiti before the missionaries with their Mother Hubbards and their talk of sin."[8]
Citations
- ^ Brown 2007.
- ^ a b Hohl 1983, p. 30.
- ^ "Catalogue entry".
- ^ Siponta De Salvia 2003, p. 26.
- ^ Brown 2007, p. 4.
- ^ Hohl 1983, pp. 30 & 32.
- ^ Hohl 1983, p. 32.
- ^ Sweetman 1995, p. 301.
- ^ Brown 2007, pp. 4–7.
Bibliography
- Brown, Daniel S. (2007). "Chopping Wood: "Primitive" Masculinity in Gauguin's "Man With an Axe, Matamoe" and "Noa Noa"". Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies. 3 (3). Archived from the original on 2 August 2019.
- Hohl, Reinhold (January 1983). "Gauguin's "Man with an Axe"". Source: Notes in the History of Art. 2 (2): 30–32. doi:10.1086/sou.2.2.23202282. S2CID 192935840.
- Siponta De Salvia, Maria (2003). Paul Gauguin. New York: Enchanted Lion Books. ISBN 978-1-59270-010-3.
- Sweetman, David (1995). Paul Gauguin: A Life. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-80941-0.
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- List of paintings
- Study of a Nude (1880)
- Still Life with Profile of Laval (1886)
- Still Life with a Sketch after Delacroix (c. 1887)
- Vision after the Sermon (1888)
- The Painter of Sunflowers (1888)
- Landscape near Arles (1888)
- The Wave (1888)
- Portrait of Madame Roulin (1888)
- Fields by the Sea (1889)
- The Beautiful Angel (1889)
- Fruits on a Table (1889)
- The Schuffenecker Family (1889)
- The Flageolet Player on the Cliff (1889)
- The Yellow Christ (1889)
- The Green Christ (1889)
- Christ on the Mount of Olives (1889)
- Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (1889)
- Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut (1889)
- Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ (c. 1890–91)
- Tahitian Women on the Beach (1891)
- Tahitian Woman with a Flower (1891)
- A Man with an Axe (1891)
- Ia Orana Maria (1891)
- The Bunch of Flowers (1891)
- Conversation (1891)
- Early Evening (1892)
- Landscape with Peacocks (Death) (1892)
- Parau na te varua ino (1892)
- Vahine no te vi (1892)
- Vairumati tei Oa (1892)
- Fatata te Miti (By the Sea) (1892)
- Arearea (1892)
- Spirit of the Dead Watching (1892)
- Te Fare (1892)
- When Will You Marry? (1892)
- Aha Oe Feii? (1892)
- Arii Matamoe (1892)
- The Siesta (1892–1894)
- Merahi metua no Tehamana (1893)
- Otahi (1893)
- Self-Portrait in a Hat (1893)
- Mahana no atua (1894)
- Nave nave moe (1894)
- Arearea no varua ino (1894)
- Le violoncelliste (1894)
- Breton Peasant Women (1894)
- Eiaha Ohipa (1896)
- Nave Nave Mahana (1896)
- Te tamari no atua (1896)
- The Queen (1896)
- Vairumati (1897)
- Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897/1898)
- Nevermore (1897)
- Two Tahitian Women (1899)
- The Great Buddha (1899)
- Tahitian Woman and Boy (1899)
- Landscape, Horse on the Road (1899)
- The Call (1902)
- Still Life with Exotic Birds (1902)
- Landscape with a Pig and a Horse (1903)
- Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-Portrait (1889)
- Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses (wood panel, 1889)
- Objet décoratif carré avec dieux tahitiens (sculpture, 1893–1895)
- Oviri (ceramic sculpture, 1895)
- Le Sourire (1899–1900)
- Paul Gauguin Museum (Tahiti)
- Paul Gauguin Cultural Center (Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)
- Paul Gauguin Interpretation Centre (Martinique)
- Jean René Gauguin (son)
- Pola Gauguin (son)
- Paul René Gauguin (grandson)
- Flora Tristan (grandmother)
- Émile Bernard
- Vincent van Gogh
- Meijer de Haan
- Charles Laval
- George-Daniel de Monfreid
- Camille Pissarro
- Émile Schuffenecker
- Theo van Gogh
- Ambroise Vollard
- The Moon and Sixpence (1942 film)
- Lust for Life (1956 film)
- Rebel in Paradise (1960 film)
- The Wolf at the Door (1986 film)
- Paradise Found (2003 film)
- Gauguin: Off the Beaten Track (2013 comic book)
- At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)
- Gauguin (crater)
- Paul Gauguin Cruises
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