Seated Female (related to the painting Sister of Charity)

Seated Female (related to the painting Sister of Charity) is an important late graphic work by Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903, executed in 1902. Classified as a drawing, the piece was created using the specialized technique of transfer drawing in black ink on ivory wove paper. This unique method, which Gauguin favored in his final years in the Marquesas, involved laying down a sheet of paper over an inked surface and then pressing or drawing onto the back of the sheet to transfer the ink onto the final support. This process generates expressive, often dark and hazy lines, merging the characteristics of drawing with the reproducibility of printmaking.

The figure depicted in the work served as a preparatory study or an immediate variation on the subject of Gauguin’s subsequent painting, Sister of Charity, allowing scholars to observe the evolution of his formal ideas. Though physically distant, Gauguin (1848-1903) remained central to the Post-Impressionist movement originating in France. The figure’s somber countenance and monumental presence reflect the melancholy and intensity characteristic of the artist’s work at the turn of the century. Today, this highly regarded drawing is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, where it offers critical insight into the experimental techniques of the artist’s final years. High-resolution prints and documentation of such historic drawings are frequently shared via museum and public domain programs.