The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 23, 2024

Head of a Tahitian Woman

Head of a Tahitian Woman

1891
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

In his writings, Gauguin often referred to his drawings as "documents"—records of motifs and ideas he could use later.

Description

This drawing belongs to a group of highly finished portrait drawings of Tahitians made by Paul Gauguin shortly after his arrival in the South Seas. While getting used to this new place, Gauguin initially avoided painting, preferring first to familiarize himself with the landscape and people through observation and drawing. The meticulous quality of this graphite study suggests that it was made from life. The woman’s noble face and enigmatic expression allude to the spirituality and melancholy that Gauguin sought to conjure in his Polynesian work.
  • ?-1929
    (Hugo Perls, Berlin, sold to De Hauke & Co., Inc., New York)
    1929
    (De Hauke & Co., Inc., sold to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams, Cleveland, OH)
    1929-1949
    Mr. [1880–1966] and Mrs. [1879–1980] Lewis B. Williams, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    1949 -
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Morice, Charles. Paul Gauguin. Paris: H. Floury, 1919. Reproduced: p. 149
    Rewald, John. Gauguin. New York: Hyperion Press, 1938. Reproduced: p. 155
    A Loan Exhibition of Paul Gauguin For the Benefit of the New York Infirmary. Exh. Cat. New York: Wildenstein, 1946. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 53
    "Rare Drawings in Gauguin Exhibition." The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Bulletin 39, no. 15 (April 15, 1950): 74. Mentioned: p. 74
    Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing by Gauguin." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 37, no. 8 (1950): 178-179. Mentioned: pp. 178-179; Reproduced: p. 174 www.jstor.org
    Rewald, John. Gauguin Drawings. New York: Yoseloff, 1958. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 93
    Brooks, Van Wyck, trans. Paul Gauguin's Intimate Journals. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958. Reproduced: p. 23
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 606 archive.org
    Rousseau, Theodore, Jr. Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture. Exh. Cat. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, in association with the Lakeside Press, 1959. Mentioned: p. 65, no. 82
    Nineteenth Century Master Drawings. Exh. Cat. Newark, NJ: Newark Museum, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 52
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 181 archive.org
    Gauguin. Exh. Cat. Seibu: Grand Magazin Seibu, 1969. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 52
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 181 archive.org
    Pickvance, Ronald. The Drawings of Paul Gauguin. London: Hamlyn, 1970. Mentioned: p. 34; Reproduced: plate 70
    Martini, Alberto. Paul Gauguin. Milano: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1977. Reproduced: p. 3
    Wadley, Nicholas. Gauguin. London: Phaidon, 1978. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 56
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 223 archive.org
    McFee, June King, and Rogena M. Degge. Art, Culture, and Environment: A Catalyst for Teaching. New York: Kendall Hunt, 1980. Reproduced: p. 274
    Wilkinson, Alan G. Gauguin to Moore: Primitivism in Modern Sculpture. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 59, no. 18
    Prather, Marla, and Charles F. Stuckey, ed. Gauguin: A Retrospective. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1987. Reproduced: p. 174
    Paul Gauguin. Exh. Cat. Tokyo: National Museum of Modern Art, 1987. Reproduced: p. 92
    Barskai︠a︡, A. G., and M. A. Bessonova. Paul Gauguin in Soviet Museums. Leningrad: Aurora Art Publishers, 1988. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 67
    Huyghe, René. Gauguin. New York: Crown, 1988. Reproduced: p. 61
    Cachin, Françoise. Gauguin. Paris: Flammarion, 1988. Reproduced: p. 146
    Brettell, Richard, Françoise Cachin, Claire Frèches-Thory, and Charles F. Stuckey. Gauguin. Exh. Cat. Paris: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 1989. Mentioned: pp. 212, 224, no. 118; Reproduced: p. 224
    Cachin, Françoise. Gauguin: "Ce malgré moi de sauvage." Paris: Gallimard, 1989. Mentioned: p. 191; Reproduced: p. 73
    Clement, Russell T. Paul Gauguin: A Bio-Bibliography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991. Mentioned: p. 189
    Thomson, Belinda, ed. Gauguin by Himself. London: Bulfinch Press, 1993. Mentioned: p. 307; Reproduced: p. 168
    Amishai-Maisels, Ziva, Marina Bessonova, Albert Kostenevic, and Maria Grazia Messina. Paul Gauguin e l'avanguardia Russa. Firenze: Artificio, 1995. Reproduced: p. 68
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: p.5, pp. 142-43, p. 291; Reproduced: p. 143
    Cable, Patrick Shaw. "From North Africa to the Black Sea: Nineteenth-Century French Orientalist Drawings." Cleveland Studies in the History of Art 7 (2002): 104-25. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 118 www.jstor.org
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
    Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).
    The Art of Paul Gauguin. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer) (May 1-July 31, 1988); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (September 17-December 11, 1988).
    Paul Gauguin. The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (March 6-May 17, 1987); Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan (June 12-28, 1987).
    National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).
    Gauguin to Moore: Primitivism in Modern Sculpture. Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (November 7, 1981-January 3, 1982).
    Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 31-August 19, 1979).
    A Loan Exhibition of Paul Gauguin for the Benefit of the New York Infirmary. Wildenstein, New York (April 3 - May 4, 1946).
    Gauguin. National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan (October 5-November 7, 1969).
    Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).
    French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966).
    19th and 20th Century Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 24, 1965).
    Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 11-September 10, 1963).
    Nineteenth Century Master Drawings. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ (organizer) (March 16-April 30, 1961).
    19th Century Master Drawings. Newark Museum, Newark, NJ (organizer) (March 16-April 30, 1961).
    Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).
    35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).
    Gauguin in Tahiti. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (organizer) (April 1-May 14, 1950).
  • {{cite web|title=Head of a Tahitian Woman|url=false|author=Paul Gauguin|year=1891|access-date=23 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.439