2-735-962 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Noa Noa: The Devil Speaks (Mahna No Varua Ino) (recto), 1893-1894. When Gauguin returned to Paris from Tahiti in 1893, he conceived a book that would describe his life among the natives and place his South Seas paintings within context. Gauguin produced ten woodcuts to illustrate Noa Noa . Printed by hand, sometimes on coloured paper, these prints have a rough-hewn, coarse quality that enhances the subject matter. An experimental printmaker, Gauguin varied inks, papers, colours, printing pressure, and even modes of printing so that each impression is unique. He would sometimes ink the woodblock unevenly, creating a partially incomprehensible image on many first-state impressions and increasing the scene’s mystery and ambiguity, as here. In 1921 Gauguin's son Pola inked and wiped the block so that the subject is clearly visible.