Portrait of Mette Gauguin
Portrait of Mette

Copyright

Work in the public domain
Photo © Courtauld
by-nc

Maker

(Artists)
1848-1903

Title

Portrait of Mette Gauguin
Portrait of Mette

Date of Production

1877

Medium

marble

Dimensions

Height: 34 cm
Width: 26.5 cm
Depth: 18.5 cm

Object Number

S.1932.SC.73

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, gift, 1932

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

On display
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Keywords

Label Text

This bust of Mette, Paul Gauguin’s Danish wife, is one of only two marble sculptures he ever made. The other is of their son Emil. Both were created early on in Gauguin’s artistic career. The finely ruffled collar and gap between collar and neck demonstrate a level of technique surprising in someone with no formal sculptural training. He was likely helped by a professional sculptor, Jules-Ernest Bouillot, his landlord at the time.

It is quiet and somewhat conventional compared with his later three-dimensional work, especially the roughly carved and expressive wood sculptures inspired by his time in Tahiti.

Inscriptions

Inscription: signed & carved : below the collar : : P. Gauguin

Provenance

Mette Gauguin, Cophenhagen; Pola Gauguin, Copenhagen; Leicester Galleries, London by 1924; Purchased by Samuel Courtauld, London, March 1925; Courtauld Gift, 1932

Exhibition History

Masterpieces of Impressionism from The Courtauld Gallery, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 10/09/2019-15/12/2019; Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 03/01/2020-15/03/2020; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, Japan, 28/03/2020-21/06/2020
The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 20/02/2019-17/06/2019
Collecting Gauguin: Samuel Courtauld in the 20's, Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/06/2013-08/09/2013
...More
Gauguin and Impressionism, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 11/12/2005-26/03/2006
Gauguin and Impressionism, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, 30/08/2005-20/11/2005
The Value of Art, Courtauld Gallery, London, 24/06/1999-30/08/1999
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