Woodcut on Chine volant, 1893-94. 205x355 mm; 8x14 inches, full margins. Fourth state (of 4). Artist's proof in this state, likely a lifetime impression, aside from the edition of 100. Printed before 1904, after the Roy edition of 1894 and before the Pola Gauguin edition of 100 published in 1921, before the significant vertical and horizontal cracks in the block which are evident in the 1921 edition.
Aside from early proofs like this printed in black and the color impressions printed by Gauguin himself, Kornfeld notes two impressions of other Noa Noa subjects printed before 1904 by Tony or Jacques Beltrand for Eugène Druet (Kornfeld 20 and 22). According to Kornfeld, Eugène Druet acquired 8 of the Noa Noa wood blocks sometime around 1914-18 and had Beltrand print impressions. In 1921, Druet sold the wood blocks to the artist's son, Pola Gauguin, and he produced the edition of 100 impressions of each. The Pola Gauguin printings, as well as many of the Beltrand impressions, are evidenced by the splits in the blocks (which are particularly noticeable in the 1921 impressions).
The current impression predates these Beltrand and Pola Gauguin impressions. A superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce woodcut. Kornfeld 19.
