Oviri
Oviri is a stoneware ceramic sculpture created by the French artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) in the winter of 1894/95. The work depicts the Tahitian deity of death and mourning, the Goddess Oviri, whose name translates as "savage" or "wild".[1] Gaugin also referred to this sculpture as "La tueuse", meaning "The Killer".[2] She is depicted by Gauguin clutching a wolf cub to her hip. The animal is intended as a symbol of the Goddesses' wild power. [3] A second wild beast, often interpreted as another wolf, is shown curling in submission at her feet; this may represent Gaugin himself.[2] The artist described the character of the woman portrayed as "monstrous and majestic, drunk with pride, rage and sorrow".[4]
Primarily a painter, Gauguin came to ceramics around 1886, when he was taught the craft by the French potter Ernest Chaplet (1835-1909). Félix Bracquemond introduced Chaplet to Gauguin [5] who, stimulated by the new French art pottery, was experimenting with ceramics. During that winter (1886-7) Gauguin attended the Vaugirard studio and with Chaplet created some 55 stoneware pots with applied figures or ornamental fragments, multiple handles, painted and partially glazed.[6][7] The venture was intended to function as an extra source of income, however the work did not sell as he had expected, and after twelve years "Oviri" was to be his final work in this medium.[8] According to the art historian Christopher Gray, the sculpture represents "the expression of Gauguin's profound disillusionment and discouragement".[8]
The artist first visited Tahiti in 1891 and was very taken by the beauty of Tahitian women. He immediately set about painting a set of sculptural mask-like portraits on paper of the natives. Evoking a sense of melancholy and death, Gauguin intended his portraits to conjure the Tahitian state of "faaturuma", or resignation, imagery he later called upon for his Oviri ceramic.[9] It is likely that Gauguin modeled the work from a wood carving.[9] Gaugin also made several later woodcuts depicting Oviri.[2]
In 2000, the work sold at Christies for $64,625.[3]
Notes
- ^ Maurer, 162
- ^ a b c The Inner World of Paul Gaugin, by John Gedo, in The Annal of Psychoanalysis, Volume 22. Ed. Jerome Winer, Routledge, 1994 ISBN 0881631353
- ^ a b "Lot 106 / Sale 9518". Christies.com. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
- ^ Taylor, Sue. "Oviri: Gauguin's savage woman". Journal of Art History, Volume 62, Issue 3 / 4, 1993. 197 - 220
- ^ Image&Narrative, The Monstrous and the Grotesque: Gauguin’s Ceramic Sculpture, Yeon Shim Chung (Shim Chung), 2008, retrieved February 27, 2009
- ^ Metropolitan Museum of Art timeline. Retrieved February 27, 2009
- ^ Ernest Chaplet Answers.com, Retrieved February 27, 2009
- ^ a b "Oviri". Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved on February 21, 2009.
- ^ a b "Important and Rare Paul Gauguin Sculpture Up for Auction at Sotheby's". sgallery.net, April 29, 2008. Retrieved on February 22, 2009.
Sources
- Landy, Barbara. "The Meaning of Gauguin's 'Oviri' Ceramic". The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 109, No. 769, April, 1967. 242-246
- Maurer, Naomi E. "The Pursuit of Spiritual Wisdom". Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8386-3749-3