Ingenuity and Invention: Paul Gauguin’s Printing Techniques
Harriet Stratis, speaker / Paul Gauguin, 1898–99, Human miseries (Misères humaines) from the Suite of Late Wood-Block Prints (also called the Vollard Suite), woodblock print in black on ivory Japanese paper, state I/I, private collection, Houston, promised gift to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
December 5, 2024
Harriet Stratis presents a lecture on Paul Gauguin’s experimentation with techniques and materials in print production. This program accompanies the exhibition Gauguin in the World.
As a printmaker, Gauguin incorporated wax-based media, indigenous wood for printing blocks, and unconventional methods, ensuring that no two prints were ever the same. Scientific analysis of his materials and examination under magnification reveal that the artist’s innovations were groundbreaking. This lecture explores Gauguin’s “unique multiples,” focusing on the renowned Noa Noa suite of woodblock prints created in Paris and the later series produced in Tahiti, illustrating this diverse approach.
Plan Your Visit
- Free with Museum admission.
- This program takes place in Brown Auditorium Theater on the lower level of the Law Building. The exhibition is located on the street level of the Beck Building.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Speaker
Harriet Stratis is an independent technical art historian and paper conservator. A lecturer in the art history department at the University of Chicago and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, she was formerly conservator of prints and drawings and head of paper conservation at the Art Institute of Chicago. Her in-depth study of Paul Gauguin’s materials and techniques appears in Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist, the catalogue that accompanied the 2017 exhibition of the same title.
“Gauguin in the World” is organized by Art Exhibitions Australia; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
This exhibition is made possible in part by a grant from:
Lead foundation underwriting is provided by:
Lead Corporate Underwriter:
Generous support is provided by:
Margaret Alkek Williams
Jerold B. Katz Foundation
M. D. Anderson Foundation
The Radoff Family
The Favrot Fund
Gail, Louis, Veronika, and Marc Adler
Polly and Murry Bowden
Nancy Pollok Guinee
Phoebe and Bobby Tudor
Andrius Kontrimas/Sheppard Mullin
Ann G. Trammell
Official Promotional Partner:
This lecture receives generous funding from the Virginia and Ira Jackson Endowment Fund at the MFAH.
All Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from H-E-B; Institute of Museum and Library Services; Sempra Foundation; the Brown Foundation, Inc.; the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; the Joe Barnhart Foundation; the Cockrell Family Fund; the CFP Foundation; Macey and Harry Reasoner; the Texas Commission on the Arts; and the Junior League of Houston, Inc.
Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Medha and Shashank Karve; Virginia and Ira Jackson; Jesse H. Jones II; the CFP Foundation; the Favrot Fund; gifts in memory of John Wynne; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.