Tahitian Carrying Bananas, from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints

Tahitian Carrying Bananas, from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints by Paul Gauguin French, 1848-1903, is a powerful visualization of the artist's late-career exploration into the graphic arts. Executed between 1898 and 1899, this intimate work is a wood-block print rendered in black ink on thin ivory Japanese paper, subsequently tipped onto a supporting sheet of thin white Japanese paper. Gauguin purposefully utilized the inherent roughness of the wood-block technique during his second, definitive period in the South Pacific. This demanding medium allowed him to achieve the raw, expressive visual language he required to convey the mystical and spiritualized visions of Tahitian life.

The print focuses on a solitary indigenous figure carrying a heavy cluster of bananas, a common subject that reflects Gauguin’s ongoing dedication to depicting the everyday realities and mythological dimensions of Polynesian culture. While the subject is exoticized, the formal qualities of the work, defined by bold lines and dramatic negative space, demonstrate the artist’s contribution to Symbolist movements flourishing in France at the turn of the century. Gauguin’s masterful handling of light and shadow, combined with the material quality of the Japanese paper, establishes Tahitian Carrying Bananas as a significant piece within his overall printmaking output. This example is preserved in the distinguished collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, offering scholars access to this pivotal moment in Post-Impressionist prints, much of which is now available in the public domain.