Vase in the Form of a Tropical Plant with Bird and Deity

1887·Stoneware painted with slip and gold·21.5 × 17 × 12 cm (8 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)

<p>In I886 Paul Gauguin was invited to design artistic pottery with the well-known ceramist Ernest Chaplet. Rather than simply decorating premade vessels, Gauguin chose to model his own unconventional forms by hand, jokingly calling them his “monstrosities.” Here the wide lip and distinctive shoulder of the vase echo the shape of the tall plant on its surface, while the protruding leaves on its sides suggest handles yet have no utilitarian function. Gauguin decorated this vase with a mix of motifs, including a goose drawn from the artist’s paintings of Brittany and a Cambodian deity copied from a photograph of a sculpture near Angkor Wat.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1887
Medium: Stoneware painted with slip and gold
Dimensions: 21.5 × 17 × 12 cm (8 1/2 × 6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Paul Gauguin

Artist

Paul Gauguin

Painting

Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influential practitioner of wood engraving and woodcuts as art forms. While only moderately successful during his lifetime, Gauguin has since been recognized for his experimental use of color and Synthetist style that were distinct from Impressionism.

Paris, France

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