Le sourire: Journal sérieux, Sept. 19, 1899 - Paul Gauguin

Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison Collection

"Le sourire: Journal sérieux, Sept. 19, 1899" by Paul Gauguin (1899) Mimeograph in brownish-black ink, with wood-block prints in black ink on cream wove paper.

Commentary

"Le sourire: Journal sérieux, Sept. 19, 1899" by Paul Gauguin (1899) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include woodcut. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawi ngs collection. Paul Gauguin is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903. The work is cataloged within a France cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as woodcut, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Mimeograph in brownish-black ink, with wood-block prints in black ink on cream wove paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Printed monogram: Diam.: 3.2 cm (1 5/16 in.); Full sheet: 35 × 52 cm (13 13/16 × 20 1/2 in.); Folded sheet: 35 × 26.1 cm (13 13/16 × 10 5/16 in.); Title block: 2.4 × 9.4 cm (1 × 3 3/4 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include woodcut. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/63545

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data