Woodcut printed in black on China paper, 1893-94. 222x384 mm; 10x17 inches, full margins. Fourth state (of 4). An artist's proof in this state. 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 including the present work printed by Gauguin (1848-1903), Kornfeld notes only 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, Druet acquired 8 of the Noa Noa woodblocks sometime around 1914-18 and had Beltrand print impressions. In 1921, Druet sold the woodblocks to the artist's son, Pola Gauguin, and he prodcued 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 woodblocks (which are particularly noticeable in the 1921 impressions).
The current impression predates these Beltrand and Pola Gauguin impressions. A superb impression of this extremely scarce woodcut. Kornfeld 19.
