Still Life with Profile of Laval
Still Life with Profile of Laval | |
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French: Nature morte au profil de Laval | |
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Artist | Paul Gauguin |
Year | 1886 |
Type | Oil painting on canvas |
Dimensions | 46.04 cm × 38 cm (18.125 in × 15 in) |
Location | Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis |
Still Life with Profile of Laval is an 1886 oil painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, located in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which is in Indianapolis, Indiana. It depicts Gauguin's friend Charles Laval in profile with an assortment of inanimate objects, including a ceramic pot Gauguin made himself.[1]
Description
This combination portrait/still life shows Gauguin's ability to take the best of various artists he admired. For example, the abrupt way Laval's face is cut off is a tribute to Edgar Degas' off-centered, oddly-cropped compositions, while setup of the still life and the parallel brush strokes in the fruit harken to Paul Cézanne's work. In addition to those other much-admired artists, Gauguin inserted himself into the composition in the form of the ceramic "monstrosity" he created, a strange interruption which Laval examines quizzically. He deliberately quotes the two most renowned artists in the genres of modern life and still life, then refuses to resolve them harmoniously. Instead, Gauguin leaves them disrupted, even incoherent in this, his first in a series of paintings on the challenges of creativity. Laval, the viewer's surrogate, tries to guess his next move.[2]
Historical information
Gauguin and Laval met in the summer of 1886, and the younger artist soon became Gauguin's pupil. This subservient role is indicated by Laval's fixed gaze upon the pot Gauguin made.[3] The pot itself helps place the creation of this painting very late in 1886, after Gauguin had returned to Paris, because it was not created until at least October. Gauguin valued his ceramic experiments highly, as both artistic objects and sources of income. He wrote to his wife Mette that this particular pot was worth 100 francs. It cannot currently be located, and may have been destroyed.[4]
Vincent van Gogh had suggested a portrait exchange among the small group of artists (also including Émile Bernard) gathered at Pont-Aven in order to create a greater sense of community, a tradition known as Freundschaftsbild. By rendering them all in new artistic styles, the collective announced their abandonment of naturalism and adoption of Symbolism.[5]
Acquisition
Still Life with Profile of Laval was acquired in 1998 as part of a collection of Gauguin and his Pont-Aven coterie. Samuel Josefowitz, a Swiss collector, amassed the 17 paintings and 84 prints, worth an estimated $30 million. The Lilly Endowment raised $20 million toward that goal with a challenge grant. The remainder was raised by the IMA, with an undisclosed amount being given by Josefowitz himself, a museum trustee. Josefowitz also donated all the prints for free. He acquired the Pont-Aven collection in the 1950s and '60s, before that period's importance in Gauguin's development was fully appreciated.[6] This particular painting hangs in the Jane H. Fortune Gallery and has the acquisition number 1998.167.[7]
See also
References
- ^ Lee, Ellen Wardwell; Robinson, Anne (2005). Indianapolis Museum of Art: Highlights of the Collection. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art. ISBN 0936260777.
- ^ Druick, Douglas W.; Zegers, Peter Kort (2001). Van Gogh and Gauguin: the Studio of the South. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago. ISBN 0500510547.
- ^ "Still-Life with Portrait of Laval". Web Gallery of Art. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ Brettell, Richard R.; Pickvance, Ronald (1994). Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven. London: Apollo.
- ^ "Gauguin's Freundschaftsbild". Painters' Table. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
- ^ Dobrzynski, Judith H. (18 Nov 1998). "Indianapolis Museum Buys 30 Gauguins From Swiss Collector". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 17 January 2013.
- ^ "Still Life with Profile of Laval". Indianapolis Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
External links
- IMA page.
- IMA blog post on Freundschaftsbilder.
- v
- t
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- List of paintings
- Study of a Nude (1880)
- Still Life with Profile of Laval (1886)
- Still Life with a Sketch after Delacroix (c. 1887)
- Vision after the Sermon (1888)
- The Painter of Sunflowers (1888)
- Landscape near Arles (1888)
- The Wave (1888)
- Portrait of Madame Roulin (1888)
- Fields by the Sea (1889)
- The Beautiful Angel (1889)
- Fruits on a Table (1889)
- The Schuffenecker Family (1889)
- The Flageolet Player on the Cliff (1889)
- The Yellow Christ (1889)
- The Green Christ (1889)
- Christ on the Mount of Olives (1889)
- Self-Portrait with Halo and Snake (1889)
- Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut (1889)
- Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ (c. 1890–91)
- Tahitian Women on the Beach (1891)
- Tahitian Woman with a Flower (1891)
- A Man with an Axe (1891)
- Ia Orana Maria (1891)
- The Bunch of Flowers (1891)
- Conversation (1891)
- Early Evening (1892)
- Landscape with Peacocks (Death) (1892)
- Parau na te varua ino (1892)
- Vahine no te vi (1892)
- Vairumati tei Oa (1892)
- Fatata te Miti (By the Sea) (1892)
- Arearea (1892)
- Spirit of the Dead Watching (1892)
- Te Fare (1892)
- When Will You Marry? (1892)
- Aha Oe Feii? (1892)
- Arii Matamoe (1892)
- The Siesta (1892–1894)
- Merahi metua no Tehamana (1893)
- Otahi (1893)
- Self-Portrait in a Hat (1893)
- Mahana no atua (1894)
- Nave nave moe (1894)
- Arearea no varua ino (1894)
- Le violoncelliste (1894)
- Breton Peasant Women (1894)
- Eiaha Ohipa (1896)
- Nave Nave Mahana (1896)
- Te tamari no atua (1896)
- The Queen (1896)
- Vairumati (1897)
- Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1897/1898)
- Nevermore (1897)
- Two Tahitian Women (1899)
- The Great Buddha (1899)
- Tahitian Woman and Boy (1899)
- Landscape, Horse on the Road (1899)
- The Call (1902)
- Still Life with Exotic Birds (1902)
- Landscape with a Pig and a Horse (1903)
- Jug in the Form of a Head, Self-Portrait (1889)
- Soyez amoureuses vous serez heureuses (wood panel, 1889)
- Objet décoratif carré avec dieux tahitiens (sculpture, 1893–1895)
- Oviri (ceramic sculpture, 1895)
- Le Sourire (1899–1900)
- Paul Gauguin Museum (Tahiti)
- Paul Gauguin Cultural Center (Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands)
- Paul Gauguin Interpretation Centre (Martinique)
- Jean René Gauguin (son)
- Pola Gauguin (son)
- Paul René Gauguin (grandson)
- Flora Tristan (grandmother)
- Émile Bernard
- Vincent van Gogh
- Meijer de Haan
- Charles Laval
- George-Daniel de Monfreid
- Camille Pissarro
- Émile Schuffenecker
- Theo van Gogh
- Ambroise Vollard
- The Moon and Sixpence (1942 film)
- Lust for Life (1956 film)
- Rebel in Paradise (1960 film)
- The Wolf at the Door (1986 film)
- Paradise Found (2003 film)
- Gauguin: Off the Beaten Track (2013 comic book)
- At Eternity's Gate (2018 film)
- Gauguin (crater)
- Paul Gauguin Cruises
- ship