Parau Hina Tefatou (Words between Goddess of the Moon and God of the Earth) - Paul Gauguin

Gift of Edward McCormick Blair

"Parau Hina Tefatou (Words between Goddess of the Moon and God of the Earth)" by Paul Gauguin (1893/94) Brush and gray wash and pen and brown ink (originally purple, est.), with black fabricated chalk, on heavily textured ivory wove paper.

Commentary

"Parau Hina Tefatou (Words between Goddess of the Moon and God of the Earth)" by Paul Gauguin (1893/94) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include pen and ink drawings. This pi ece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings 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 pen and ink drawings, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Brush and gray wash and pen and brown ink (originally purple, est.), with black fabricated chalk, on heavily textured ivory wove paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (34.2 × 24.8 cm (13 1/2 × 9 13/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include pen and ink drawings. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/159080

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