Woman Picking Fruit and Oviri
1895/96
Medium
Wood-block print in black ink on thin ivory Japanese paper, tipped on ivory wove paper, laid down on off-white wove plate paper with decorative plate marks
Dimensions
Image: 10.5 × 9 cm (4 3/16 × 3 9/16 in.); Sheet: 14.4 × 11.1 cm (5 11/16 × 4 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
52990
Art Historical Context
In the mid-1890s, Paul Gauguin, a Post-Impressionist artist immersed himself in Tahiti, drawing inspiration from Polynesian culture to escape European conventions. Created around 1895–96, *Woman Picking Fruit and Oi* captures this exotic allure through a intimate woodcut print. The title evokes a sereneesian scene: a woman gathering fruit alongside Oviri, Gauguin's iconic symbol of primal femininity derived from Tahitian mythology, blending everyday life with mythic power. This small-scale work (just 10.5 × 9 cm) exemplifies Gauguin's innovative printmaking during his Tahitian sojourn. Printe...
About the Artist
Paul Gauguin · 1848–1903
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experiments with color, form, and subject matter made him one of the most influential figures in the transition from 19th-century art to modernism. His rejection of European civilization for the perceived authenticity of 'primitive' cultures established an archetype of artistic exile that continues to resonate. Gauguin's ...