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Oviri (Gauguin)
Encyclopedia
Oviri is a stoneware
ceramic
sculpture created from partially glazed stoneware by the French artist Paul Gauguin
(1848-1903) in the winter of 1894/95. The work depicts the Goddess Oviri, a Tahitian
deity of death and mourning, whose name translates as "savage" or "wild". She is shown strangling a blood stained wolf cub at her hip, while another wolf lies dead under her feet.
Gauguin often used the epithet
of Oviri for himself; he saw himself as a "civilised savage" and referred to this sculpture as "La tueuse", The Killer. Shortly before he died he wrote, "I am a savage. And the civilized feel it from the outset: because in my work there is nothing which surprises or ... am a savage in spite of myself."
Ultimately the sculpture became Gauguin's grave monument.
had introduced Chaplet to Gauguin who, stimulated by the new French art pottery, was experimenting with the form. During that winter of 1886-7, Gauguin attended the Vaugirard studio and with Chaplet created some 55 stoneware pots with applied figures or ornamental fragments, multiple handles, painted and partially glazed. The venture was intended to function as an extra source of income, and though he declared it one of the best works he has produced, it did not sell, and was to be his final ceramic.
cub to her hip, which she appears to be strangling, intended as a symbol of her wild power, and more abstractly, the indifference of nature. A second animal, likely another wolf, is shown at her feet either curling in submission or dead; according to some art historians this may represent Gauguin himself.
Gauguin described the character of the woman as "monstrous and majestic, drunk with pride, rage and sorrow". According to the art historian Christopher Gray (1915-1970), the sculpture represents "the expression of Gauguin's profound disillusionment and discouragement". Gauguin first visited Tahiti in 1891, and was taken by the beauty of Tahitian women and set about painting a set of sculptural mask-like portraits on paper. Evoking a sense of both melancholy and death, Gauguin intended his portraits to conjure the Tahitian state of "faaturuma", or resignation; imagery he later called upon for his Oviri ceramic. It is likely that he modeled this work from a wood carving
. Gauguin also made several woodcuts depicting the goddess, as well as an 1894 self-portrait in patinated plaster entitled Oviri (Savage).
In 2000, a bronze cast version of the work cast circa 1950-1960 sold at Christies for $64,625. Today, the original 1894 stoneware sculpture is in the Musée d'Orsay
in Paris.
Stoneware
Stoneware is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic ware with a fine texture. Stoneware is made from clay that is then fired in a kiln, whether by an artisan to make homeware, or in an industrial kiln for mass-produced or specialty products...
ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
sculpture created from partially glazed stoneware by the French artist Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
(1848-1903) in the winter of 1894/95. The work depicts the Goddess Oviri, a Tahitian
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
deity of death and mourning, whose name translates as "savage" or "wild". She is shown strangling a blood stained wolf cub at her hip, while another wolf lies dead under her feet.
Gauguin often used the epithet
Epithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
of Oviri for himself; he saw himself as a "civilised savage" and referred to this sculpture as "La tueuse", The Killer. Shortly before he died he wrote, "I am a savage. And the civilized feel it from the outset: because in my work there is nothing which surprises or ... am a savage in spite of myself."
Ultimately the sculpture became Gauguin's grave monument.
Background
Primarily a painter, Gauguin came to ceramics around 1886, when he was taught the craft by the French potter Ernest Chaplet (1835-1909). Félix BracquemondFelix Bracquemond
Félix Henri Bracquemond was a French painter and etcher.Félix Bracquemond was born in Paris. He was trained in early youth as a trade lithographer, until Guichard, a pupil of Ingres, took him to his studio. His portrait of his grandmother, painted by him at the age of nineteen, attracted Théophile...
had introduced Chaplet to Gauguin who, stimulated by the new French art pottery, was experimenting with the form. During that winter of 1886-7, Gauguin attended the Vaugirard studio and with Chaplet created some 55 stoneware pots with applied figures or ornamental fragments, multiple handles, painted and partially glazed. The venture was intended to function as an extra source of income, and though he declared it one of the best works he has produced, it did not sell, and was to be his final ceramic.
Description
Gauguin's Oviri has long blond / grey hair which reaches to her knees. Her head is disproportionately large, as are her eyes, while she has adolescent breasts. She is depicted clutching a wolfGray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...
cub to her hip, which she appears to be strangling, intended as a symbol of her wild power, and more abstractly, the indifference of nature. A second animal, likely another wolf, is shown at her feet either curling in submission or dead; according to some art historians this may represent Gauguin himself.
Wood carving
Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...
. Gauguin also made several woodcuts depicting the goddess, as well as an 1894 self-portrait in patinated plaster entitled Oviri (Savage).
In 2000, a bronze cast version of the work cast circa 1950-1960 sold at Christies for $64,625. Today, the original 1894 stoneware sculpture is in the Musée d'Orsay
Musée d'Orsay
The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...
in Paris.
Sources
- Cachin, Francoise. "Gauguin". Flammarion, 1990. ISBN 2-0803-0430-5
- Maurer, Naomi E. "The Pursuit of Spiritual Wisdom". Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8386-3749-3
- Gray, Christopher, Sculpture and Ceramics of Paul Gauguin, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1963
- van der Grijp, Paul. Art and Exoticism: an Anthropology of the Yearning For: Authenticity. Lit Verlag, 2009. ISBN 3-8258-1667-2