Friday, August 22, 2014

Tahitian Girl



Tahitian Girl ca. 1896, created from two separate but conjoined wood carvings. The Head, and Torso are conjoined by a small metal bracket on the back and the seam is covered by a felt necklace. The necklace includes a mother-of-pearl amulet, a braid, and a small pink shell.
Gauguin left France for the South Seas in 1887 in hopes of finding a culture unchanged by modern civilization.   Although Tahiti had been long-ago despoiled by contact with Europeans, Gauguin propagated in his art the fantasy of a 'primitive' island paradise.
This sculpture is interesting to me because the discrepancy in size of the torso and head. The head being bigger makes me feel like she is portraying a sense of being proud and strong. While her body is smaller portrays to me her sense of insecurity. When you’re scared you push your shoulders out and display this confidence but really you want to curl up in the fetal position.






4 comments:

  1. loved it. is a really interesting analysis that you made about the proportions of it.. i liked it very much!!
    keep it up!

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  2. The sculpture is very serene-looking, my eyes also lead directly to the sculptures head to torso disproportion. I really like your comparison about the sculpture’s insecurity and confidence, as it makes great sense. Also, the necklace really stands out to me as well.

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  3. I thought it was pretty cool! It reminds me of one of the exhibits at Museum of Natural History when I visited New York. For some reason, it kind of reminds me of some fertility goddess.

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  4. Her face is very detailed and she does look proud. I like your interpretation. It does look like native art which Gaugin was going for.

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