Bulletin Board

1. Bulletin Board

2. Paul Gauguin (1848—1903) Paul Gauguin was a French born artist. He spent his early childhood in Peru with his mother. He never forgot the tropics. Gauguin worked as a stockbroker, got married when he was 25 years old and had 5 children. He painted in his spare time until he was 34 and then quit his job as a stockbroker to paint full time. Gauguin was encouraged by Pissarro and Degas and painted for a time as an Impressionist. In 1887 Gauguin moved to the tropics to paint and live a simple life. Bulletin Board

3. Bulletin Board

4. Tahitian Women on the Beach, (1891). By Paul Gauguin oil on canvas (27.2 × 35.8 in), Musee d'Orsay Bulletin Board

5. As a full-time artist, Paul Gauguin didn’t sell his paintings and became fed up with the busy, uncaring cities where he painted. In 1891 he moved to the South Sea island of Tahiti. But Paul was disappointed when he arrived in Tahiti. It was run by the French government, and part of the island reminded him of the place he just left! So Gauguin used the 3 elements of composition to help tell a story of what he found. In the positive space are the subjects– our island women. • The woman on the left is the ideal islander. She is in comfortable clothes, she has her eyes closed in relaxation, is stretched out and even has a flower in her hair. • This is different from the woman on the right. She is wearing a “Missionary” dress. She looks uncomfortable and hot. She wears this uniform as she makes straw hats to sell. In her hand is a palm frond, and on the beach is a comb and pick used to make the hats. She is depicted as a worker you might see in a big city. In the negative space is the beach around the women. Notice that the water is black instead of blue. Many critics think Paul is imagining roads that might be built soon over the beach. Gauguin also uses the element of frame. The island worker is looking outside of the frame to see if anyone is watching her and will notice if she stops working. All these clues help us imagine the island turning slowly into a big city.

6. By Paul Gauguin handout

7. PTSA Sponsored Art Smart Negative Space & Paul Gauguin October 11, 2013 Paul Gauguin (1848—1903) Paul Gauguin was a French born artist. He spent his early childhood in Peru with his mother. He never forgot the tropics. Gauguin worked as a stockbroker, got married when he was 25 years old and had 5 children. He painted in his spare time until he was 34 and quit to paint full time. Gauguin was encouraged by Pissarro and Degas and painted for a time as an Impressionist. In 1887 Gauguin moved to the tropics to paint and live a simple life. Today we learned the three basic elements of a composition are: • frame (boundary) • positive space (subject) • negative space(background) The negative space, or backgrounds, are very important because they help tell a story about the subject, and they can complete the body of the subject in the positive space. Without a subject a composition would be too busy and your eyes would have a hard time finding a place to rest and focusing on one object at a time. handout