Auti te Pape (Women at the River)

Auti te Pape (Women at the River) by Paul Gauguin and Louis Roy, executed between 1894 and 1895, is a highly significant example of collaborative color woodcut printmaking from the late nineteenth century. Gauguin provided the initial design, drawing on imagery and aesthetic principles developed during his time in Tahiti, while Louis Roy, a skilled printmaker, translated the composition into the complex relief medium. This work showcases the distinctive technical challenges of the woodcut process, requiring careful registration of multiple color blocks to achieve the finished, richly textured print.

The piece exemplifies the shift in French art during the period spanning 1876 to 1900, moving away from Impressionist realism toward the flattened, symbolic forms characteristic of Post-Impressionism. Gauguin was deeply involved in this movement, using simplified shapes and bold, non-naturalistic color to evoke emotional or spiritual meaning rather than mere description. The subject matter captures Polynesian women gathered by a stream, reflecting the artist's persistent exploration of non-Western culture and his search for an uncorrupted, "primitive" visual language.

As a collaborative effort, the final aesthetic relies heavily on Roy's interpretation of Gauguin's preparatory sketches. Roy utilized heavy outlines and distinct surface patterns typical of woodcuts, lending the imagery a stark, graphic quality that aligns with contemporary European artistic experimentation in prints. The resulting design functions both as an intimate scene of daily life and a formalized study of color and line. This important French print is housed in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, where it serves as a key document of Gauguin’s Symbolist phase and the growing importance of the woodcut within avant-garde graphic arts.