Nasher Sculpture Center

Gauguin left France for the South Seas in 1887 in hopes of finding a culture unchanged by modern civilization. Although Tahiti had been long-ago despoiled by contact with Europeans, Gauguin propagated in his art the fantasy of a 'primitive' island paradise. The artist carved Tahitian Girl from two separate pieces of wood, joining the oversized, smoothly finished head to the smaller, more roughly carved body at the back of the neck with brackets and nails. He covered the seam in front with a felt necklace adorned with a braid, pink shell, and mother-of-pearl amulet. With its irregular scale, ephemeral materials, and piercing stare, Gauguin's sculpture has the presence of a magical talisman or sacred relic, associations the artist actively cultivated in his work.