Woman Strolling

1875·Tropical laurel (Terminalia), stained red and black·H.: 25 cm (9 3/4 in.)

When Paul Gauguin first exhibited this doll-like figurine at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in 1881, critics disparaged what they considered its simplistic coloring and crudely whittled surface. The avant-garde set, however, celebrated its stylized form. Gauguin’s younger colleague <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/40810/georges-seurat">Georges Seurat</a>, who may have seen the sculpture at the exhibition and in Gauguin’s studio, presented similarly pared-down, columnar figures in <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/27992/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-1884"> A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884</a> only a few years later. Gauguin came to painting through sculpture and preferred to work with wood, an unusual artistic medium at the time in part because of its humble nature. He sought to expand the Impressionists’ narrow definition of fine art to include objects—like this sculpture—that might be dismissed as decoration or craft.

Catalogue

Year: 1875
Medium: Tropical laurel (Terminalia), stained red and black
Dimensions: H.: 25 cm (9 3/4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Paul Gauguin

Artist

Paul Gauguin

Painting

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influential practitioner of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms. While only moderately successful during his lifetime, Gauguin has since been recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism.

Paris, France

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