Artwork Information

Artists drawn to indigenous arts are often attracted by not only purely formal qualities, but also by the spiritual resonances surrounding ritualistic objects such as masks and carved figures. Many works Gauguin made during and after his first visit to Tahiti of 1891–93 suggest the significance of Pacific art objects as a source of totemic power. He preferred the graphic medium of woodcut as the artist’s hand was clearly visible in the finished product. (Headspace, 2002)