The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto); Women Washing Clothes (verso)
In 1893, Paul Gauguin returned to Paris from time spent in Tahiti. He began to conceive of a book that would describe his life outside Europe and provide context for the avant-garde works he created while away. This print is one of a series of ten intended to illustrate this book, which Gauguin titled Noa Noa. He carved each image roughly into a woodblock and printed them himself, giving the prints a rough quality that he hoped would enhance their subject matter. Because of this process, combined with the artist's practice of varying his inks and papers while working, prints such as this on...
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- woodcut
- Dimensions
- sheet: height 0.205 m, width 0.321 m; image: height 0.203 m, width 0.319 m
- Origin
- France, late 19th century
- Department
- Prints
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Human Figure Both · 93%
A large bent or crouching human figure is clearly visible in the right-hand impression, while additional partially obscured bodily forms appear in the left-hand impression.
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Scenes of Everyday Life Metadata · 86%
The verso title identifies a scene of women washing clothes; the displayed impressions also show figures engaged in a grounded, activity-based scene.
Visual Qualities
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Dark Colors Visual · 96%
The impressions are dominated by dark olive-black marks against a yellow ochre paper ground, with extensive deep shadow and dark tonal fields.
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Rough Both · 98%
The museum describes the woodcuts as rough, and the image visibly shows coarse grain, broken marks, uneven contours, and variable ink coverage.
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Dense Composition Visual · 89%
The left impression is densely filled with overlapping marks, while the right impression concentrates a figure and surrounding environmental lines within a compact bordered image.
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Irregular Linear Forms Visual · 91%
Uneven carved contours and emphatic directional marks organize both impressions, especially the flowing and angular lines surrounding the right-hand figure.
Medium and Techniques
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Woodcut and Linocut Metadata · 99%
The catalog identifies the medium as woodcut; the image shows the irregular, grainy lines and uneven ink deposits associated with a carved relief block.
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Prints Metadata · 99%
The work is classified by the museum as a Print and belongs to the Prints department.
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Work on Paper Both · 96%
The catalog records sheet and image dimensions, and the image visibly shows printed impressions on a paper sheet.
Time Periods
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19th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The work is dated 1893–1894.
Geographic Regions
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French Art Metadata · 94%
Paul Gauguin is identified as French, and the place of origin is recorded as France.
Source & rights
Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903). The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto); Women Washing Clothes (verso). Cleveland Museum of Art.