Noa Noa (Fragrant Scent) from Noa Noa (Fragrant Scent) is a striking woodcut created by Paul Gauguin in 1893. This French print is part of a critical series of graphic works that Gauguin developed to illustrate his semi-fictionalized travelogue, also titled Noa Noa, detailing his first transformative journey to Tahiti (1891–93). Produced primarily between 1893 and 1894, the woodcuts accompanying the text mark a pivotal moment in Gauguin’s artistic evolution, demonstrating a decisive move away from European artistic conventions toward a raw, deliberately primitive approach to printmaking.
Unlike traditional, smooth wood engravings common in European graphic art, Gauguin utilized the woodcut medium to harness rough textures and powerful contrasts. He treated the wood matrix with radical subjectivity, often leaving visible tool marks and flaws that contributed to the work's expressive energy. This deliberate crudeness was meant to amplify the exotic and sensual themes Gauguin sought to convey about the Polynesian culture he encountered. By embracing the fundamental nature of the woodcut process, Gauguin was able to simplify forms into essential, bold shapes, focusing on the rhythmic interplay of dark mass and negative space. The resulting images reject the illusionistic depth of academic painting, favoring the flatness and stylized iconography Gauguin observed in non-Western traditions.
The entire Noa Noa series represents a foundational example of Post-Impressionist graphic work, cementing Gauguin’s reputation for profound technical innovation in printmaking. These works, made immediately following his return to France in the 1893–94 period, served as an artistic justification for his break with Parisian society and his unwavering pursuit of exoticism. This specific impression is held in the prestigious collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where it stands as a significant record of the artist’s commitment to the Primitivism movement and the revolutionary capabilities he uncovered within the woodcut medium.
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