Woman with a Fan: Paul Gauguin's Heavenly Vairaumati-a Parable ...

Mat io-Aniix',xs \xii 1Linichati, Folkwang Museum, Essel' , for this rexe-r
32. l)Diilcsso, (;ouguitt xi thie Smalh ,Sas, 257, claims that the relationship
bx'vecii Galiguiii and TIxlxtaxa was "intimati," but there is little evidclnx
c o1 a laisolxol lel than a rei'ark in a lettei to Daniclisson fiom
(;I'hl x ieams latci, whereas his caiIr l'i ttr ' to Ichiciit ian indicates
quite the oplpisile, Liteiatlirc o'i tEuiopean iacial stereotypes at they
ilpll tox women ox c2olol is vast; x'ir examples, see n. 2 above, as well as
SmIdcl { .ihxxx, IMi/r,me x and /alholog,i7: Stele,tt/iks of S'xuialiti, Rate and
Modmmixii (Ixhaca, N.Y.: (Cornell University Press, 1 985); ani Adrienne
Clhilds, "I lTix Black Exotic: Tradition aild Eiithiogi aphy in Nineteenth-
0,x1111xN (Iiic'nialisI Alt" (PhD) diss., Uniiersitv of' Marxland, College
PI'mk, 2005).
33. lix Segahln, lI,l/hi i'x Mou'ftid, Maxch 1902, no. LXXVII, and May 1902,
noi. ILXXIX, 6auguin speaks of' his "solitude" and "complete isolation."
34. 1 i(x titles aic listed ii chxlkwisi ordr' lixor xipper left. Douglas Druick
Petc /egcs, x''d "I' Kampopng et la pagodc: Gauguin at l'Exposition
unixiisIlhe de 1889," in (Gaugiti: Axtes dxu (olloque, '1s1ai, xl'Orsav (Paris:
l' .ch' ilit lxouvx'e, 1991 ), 101-42, am 122-23, identified the photograph
Of1 11c sixlix' ixf Vishini by Isidore van Kinsbergen. The objecx t at lower
iighinxix\ blxxe thie Imxk ofi a cxanlvas.
35. Ali cdn d 1xxii i//li d, (itai,Caxtu, (Gidl, Huyxsmams .... ai Odixn ledon (Paris:
J. Cmli, 19G)), no. 3, September 1890, 19`)3. Elizabetli Childs, "Paradise
Rcdlnx: Inixguix, lPlhtogiaphy, and Fin-ide-Sieli Tailiti," in The Ar/ist
xixd /ixr C xmem. .Dol)xroxlh Kosinski (New I lav'n: Yale Universin,
P'es, 1999), 19-41; alid Frai ,oise i leilbtilii, "I,a photog xaphic,
%amce dc's airs"," ill Calignn, Tahiti, 21103, 42-61.
'sex -
"36. Paul (;;I iguix. Almicn xi1l1// m/horie (1892-93), ed. Rer'6 Huiglie, aclsimilc
ud. (Illa.is1 ,La P'alni, 1)x51l), 13. (Gaiguin f1'equently represented
Iliixa. Amni g 1cli' cxamples 'anv of disembodied heads are ihose il
tlh' Sr'/Po/itil t (;i/ox/lxha (W 534), 189ii, Muse'm of Art, Sao Paulo,
Ih1a/il.
37. Dit hfI o/ xoixul (;ouaguio, cxh. (ai., National a(alle'ry of Art, Washington,
D1.C., ;kil l] O I t hislitlc ofCh icagox , 1(988, 217 and 11ceilbrun, ''a
phiohl(gmplxhic'," 58. Foi Noxi \oia, see Nicholas Wadley, (Gouxguioi's Tahiti
(Lnd in:
PIhaidon, 191851, 109-12.
38. Scx,'111xc I limgixie, "Patil Galiguiil and the Muse in the ,Myth of' the
Aixlimx asI )ili',' t ic I'iUorlis/, 4 m miulx i,i: 111/loaiitio u (xlix ixxi/tult et d' siio
moWli, Xl\' NX \ii'
(oilriiig).
lxx (Rome: Axadx'ie de F'aince, Villa Medici, forth-
39. F'. S. C miighill lklidyv, Nia/ive Cull/u in the Maiiiueva's (Honoluhl: Ber-
Hixi IcishlNsho
Museum B'i lclin, 19)23), 293.
401. (;-oig('s ILe' Bionir , "lxvi'lairi' dls Neils," in Wildenstein, Gauguin,
m vir, 20 1 8: and Kjcllgi ci', Aldoring the iorld, cat. no. 73.
41. Six kei, "Fl' lBildl," 116. David Sweetnian, Paul (Gangiiin: A Lif/i (New
Yolk: Siloll and Schustxl, 1995), 50}8, remarks (lie prominence of the
(I icolxi isx'll'. Altlhxugh lhe official sequence ofx the coloxs in the
f xxi Ii xxi( ol 1;ix d IIih' ne ix' the xelxter- and red oil the oxuter i'a,nd-xwas
'sliblishci in ilix' Third Rcpoblic, tlx ieveise is xoninion. Foi example's,
xc'.,1ca -Miclx l Re x,ieali, I, /x'x fles lax R//xim liqui', l'/isloire de lht
W/Im/liqui xi /irxis hx lx velt,v (tl,Maniaotti, (lParis: Assemb6lc Nationale,
200I), 136-37, 112, It5, 17f, 2(94, 2961.
42. Segolc'. Iix'/x/ho x N iolx/id, November 191)1, no. ILXXVL. See Rookimmikc'i,
,i/lhritixl Ill 7Theorio, 239-4), oxi (Gauguin's greatest legacy ol
I Ici iv,' hrccdoilxl.
43. (;auguinIxs,Miooirs, 'xd. Mcilix's. 25-26.
44. A(mioding xI( 'lT'Alsace-l'X ,orii' e Ct 16tat ac'ict des is'prits" (Olernor ih
FIxlmmr 2 1 I D)xcx ibetc 189)71: i, 1- 813), populai opinion iheld that the
miilniry ( ixllicis wcx e 'xershadoiwed i by le triumph of French culture.
Sce hlirtlici ,lexatlacques Blcikic and St`iphane Audoin-Rotizeau, Lit
FIx)ir, lit nioxmx. l gur''tr': 18150-1920 (P}aris: Sidcs, 1995), 156-57.
45. (G,igiuin, f/lxemiixs, ic. NMxllih's, 28.
46. lbid., 26.
47. S'cg;hil', Ixt/hw i ix ,hix/xid, O(toibci 1902, nxo. ILXXXI.
48. miguniiu. Umaxottlx m,x. ed. Mcillr's, 12-13. lix iny seminai oxi Gauguin,
2005, 1(i 1',vnine cncomiragi d me tIo suppose thxat Gautguin adapted
tlhe iolxtx of "uanslptisilioll dart," intrdcix ced by TI'iophile Gautier
in his poixl'us afilc 18,18, llrolably , "Sy xxvplixonii' el blaxic lajetu," subselIiclill
,eNpliblisht'd log'lxhe
lion cmxi-l1plificdl syxcsxh'lix
ill 1'.imoux el mn iirs (Paris, 1872). The collec-
wrldencies lxir the ]ext generation. I ari
grl;ni ltl 1()Ilh rexsx' l a)nli lrc exlensive noies oxi xltie topic.
49. J 'chan c I'cillictI-'isk, I ii , I/Vx ixi'd, (xix hZt01 M*1tio/ x x?i (;au uifxpiix
PSolym,wio Sx,mhiolixm (/\lilt Arbor: UMI Researc' l Press, 1983), 145-46,
xi'si I ii's (;;uuguin's methixd, ii which lie "miustantly quo ted images
hiot] his Iliiouixius wox"s, images whih I the maj ai o xf ty (liie title stood
lox ;Ill idi'x.-" I)ingc'ol , "Prci'nict scijour a1 Talhiti," 115, compares his
i)all1 In,v, k appi oatclixxo Ille piecemeal displays of' the diffrle't cuhures
inl Orc2 1889} E\p[o{sitiol U nkivesclic.
lOANV 111 1 VA, \ ":I P I' GAt GUIN'S IiA\ ENLNh V\ IRAUNI \I 1 565
50. Gauguin, tawontairs, ed. Merfihes. 15-16.
51. Camilh,' issatro, Lettrev 'i soan /ili L,ucien, ed. John Rewald (Paris: Albin
Michel, 1950), 217, Noxember 23, 1893. Richaid Field, "Plagiaire on
criateuir," in Poaul (;augrmn (Paris: Hachette, Collection Genies et
Realit6s, 1961), 139-69.
52. Gauguin, Rarootars, ed. Merlhes, 13.
53. Jacques AotoinC Moerellhotlt, L,es zovages aux [ils do gianud oMi,in. 2 vols.
(1837; reprint, Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 19'7). 1euira Heim, 411iient
Tahiti (lionoluli: Bernice P. Bishop MUseCIAi, 1928), gives a %ariation
of the niyitis recounted by Moecrenhout. See also Robert LeN's, oahi
tians: Mind and Evifierience in the Soriety ilsl/iund (Chicago: Universiti
Chicago Press, 1973).
of
54. Gauguin, Antien (,title mahorie, 13. Gauguin took "lcrleite de la Inatiere"
firont Moerenhout, Leu vxoyago'cx,
\ol. 1, 428.
55. Gauguin, Alnit'iex (-ill(i oaihorie, 29.
56. Ibid., 23-31, as well as in Paul Gauguin, Noa Nx a (1893 versioin), ed.
Jerome Veiain (Paris: Mille et Une Nuits. 1998), 79-82. Gauguin's
knowledge of tii' Ariois Colmes fironlx Moerenhout, Les v111agi'i, sol. 1,
484-99, vol. 2, 129-135.
57. Gauguin, N'oa Aoa (1893), 75, trans. Naomi E. Maurer, The Puiim1il o/
Spirilual 0 llvldom: Tlihe lThoighl and A'i (?/ 111 ment (vall Goo? and Paul (Gailcgmin
(Madison, Wis.: Fairleigh Dickinson Press, 19198), 152.
58. Mus6e d'Orsav, Domumentation, dossier on Vairauniati ('A450) ill box
30, photograph of the letter to Paul S'erusiei, dated March 23, 1812.
59. Teiltiet-Fisk, Paxadise Reviitwed, 48, adds that Vairaimnati extends a fihlger
in the gesture of Bhumi,xiripxsmudra (making a point), takell firon
thie Buddhal in the Javanese relief ox Boriobduir, fiom x hii cl Gauglim
firequentil Iboniowed.
60. Gauguin, Anoxix rulte mahiorie, 15. For more oxi the Aiiois, see E. S.
Craighill Handy, PolTorsitto Rpligion (tforrolulu: Bernice Bishop Nhl-
seurn Bulletin, 11)27), 35.
61. Gauguin, Noa Noa (1893), 59: "Ia sen'en e xIi iarbre Ora li apportxxe
de la Luiie sul la Terre par tll pigeon blanc." Although at firines the
white bird seems to evoke the Holy Ghost, here it recalls tihe bird that
brought the branch to Noah's Ark.
62. The variation in tilt, spelling of Vairamiiati in Gauguin's title is considured
unintentional. Shackellord, Gaug,mpinx, Tahiti, 2004, 253, notes that
the wo0nan with a fan resembles Vairun1 ati (see ix. 92 helow).
63. May,i' vxnn Zink Vance, "Giauguin's Polynesian Pantheon as a Visual
Language" (PhD diss., U nivcrsitn of Caliiirnia, Santa Bari ara, 19861.
26(0-61.
64. Paul Ganguin, "A ina fill Aline, i, (ahie' itv dliMW,"l Noles al/ixwx, xxxii suiir
(omlme lex R-i , xomme In vit ioutni, l it de mor'eaux: Journal de enn, fl'u ille,
ed. Victor Mleilhis (Bordeaux: William Blake, 1989), 32. MIciliiis idcnfilies
the fignie oi
fears).
the co\xir as the "llantiscs huniinics" (huniani
65. Teillict-Fisk, Patadise Revi'zved, 123, proposes that the tiki oxi xltii thiotii
represents Oro oi a hlialin't (spirit) and connects the thi'one to the
u/i otomotif. im /m means calabash or alxxiy siiall bowl. GaLingix 's Copies
of the im motif are found in the Loxire mianxiscript "Noa Noa." 1(i68.
See Alfred Gell, lViapyfng in lmaxr7: Tattooing in Pol)v ixesia (Oxford: Clat -
endon Press, 19i)93).
66. Teilliet-Fisk, Paiadise f/eviezved, 123, notes similar patterns on stanics of
I lina and Tefitoxil.
67. The poem appears in the Louxre MS "Noa Noa," 117-23. Accoxding 1to
Victor Segalen, "Gauguin ifalis son dernier d6cor." in Paol G;augxuin.
/'insugr,g dex Matqiuiv s (Pat-is: iMagellan, 2003). 150, lines from this poem
%eri tacked to the shrine that Gauguin erected outside the i'entrance to
the Maison xuljouir.
68. Ainishai-Maisels, (Ganuin's Rlxig'ious Themes, 234-36,
Wasitxifiski,
371, 383,
(auogxxi
and,tliratx
in I/e ( niix' o/ S ibolixi, 275-76.
69. Gauguin, '4 maxxille Almir, " ii.p. "If we aren't I lil beginning in coming
into the world, we must beliexe like the Buddhists that we haie always
existed. Change of skin. [Si nous ne sommes pIMS
all Monde
lx iionmenix'1o/en
it
venoi t I
ftnd c'roire rcomime hes BoudhWes que ntous avons lou{jounK ewais.
Changement i/e /prau .... ]'" There are carlier indications of his intei est
in Buddhism. such as his letter to Lirxxle Bernard, August 18x90, i( G.auxguin,
Let/n,s it ma itemmie, no. CXI, 205, iin which ie refei s to the possibility
of xalln Gogh's next lici "according to the laws of Buddlia [selon la
hix die Boudha]." BPiddhisii and theosoplix were the sutbjects of niam
discussions in Svinbolist xircles fiiom the
Smilr
1880s.
of1"the
Sei Jacqueline
Buddha:
Baas,
Eastern Phloihsol)hy, mol We'stemt .4r1 fiom Mone,t to TodaY
(BerkeleY: Universiti of California Press, 2005).
70. Gauguin, Anieo (till/( ma/horie, 19.
71. See xilx. 22, 23 above.