Plate with the Head of a Horned Devil, from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints - Paul Gauguin

Gift of the Print and Drawing Club

"Plate with the Head of a Horned Devil, from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints" by Paul Gauguin (1898/99) Wood-block print, printed twice in black over pale yellow ocher ink, on thin ivory Japanese paper, partially laid down on white two-ply mat board.

Commentary

"Plate with the Head of a Horned Devil, from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints" by Paul Gauguin (1898/99) 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 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 woodcut, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Wood-block print, printed twice in black over pale yellow ocher ink, on thin ivory Japanese paper, partially laid down on white two-ply mat board) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 15.4 × 29.5 cm (6 1/8 × 11 5/8 in.); Sheet/secondary support: 19.2 × 29.9 cm (7 9/16 × 11 13/16 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/52994

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