Kunsthaus in Zurich exhibits more than 50 prints of Gauguin

From September 28, 2012 to January 20, 2013, an exhibition of engravings by the French artist Paul Gauguin will be held in one of the largest art museums in Switzerland, Kunsthaus, located in Zurich. The series, consisting of more than 50 engravings, has been exhibited little and is still practically unknown to the general public. All works are in excellent condition and have no analogues. Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was one of the most famous artists of the beginning of the modern era, and his graphic works, perhaps, will give a key to understanding his work. Woodcuts and lithographs made on zinc plates can tell us a lot about the nature of the person who created them.

In 1889, Travels to Brittany and the South seas was created, the first important series of prints made in black on bright yellow paper. These works are based on the artistic achievements of their time and already reflect the artist’s passion for exotic places far away. In the years 1891-1892 the heyday of his graphic work falls, at the same time he creates one of the most exciting creations of modern art, Noa Noa. As a mirror of a restless soul, graphic works appeared one after another, during long periods of his illness, and also after his return in 1895 to Tahiti, which became the center of his further creativity.

Gauguin’s engravings help us uncover the whole drama of the sensitive soul in the fight against complexes, doubts, desires and fears. Living conditions in which exotic myths are mixed with the Catholic faith, fear of ancestors and demons are an intoxicating mixture that requires detailed study.

The mysterious depth and strange color intensity characterizing this series of works is connected with the fact that the artist, when printing them, worked with “wild” cliches that did not fit the standards adopted at that time for commercial graphics. He printed many of them himself, and since he did not possess professional methods, at first glance the engravings seem clumsy, often with blurry contours. However, it is precisely such a technique that gives these works mystery and depth, a characteristic color intensity.

The exhibition in Zurich will be almost unique, as in the foreseeable future, these works will no longer be presented.

Anna Sidorova