Breton Bather

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Prints and Drawings

1886/87

Paul Gauguin
French, 1848-1903

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Paul Gauguin
Title: Breton Bather
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1886–1887
Medium: Charcoal and pastel, with touches of brush and brown ink, on ivory laid paper (discolored to tan), partially outlined in graphite and squared in black fabricated chalk, with yellow paint residue on verso
Inscriptions: Signed lower left, in charcoal: "P Gauguin"; inscribed upper right, in charcoal: "Marz 87"
Dimensions: 58.5 × 35 cm (23 1/16 × 13 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles B. Goodspeed
Reference Number: 1946.292
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/55341/manifest.json

Société du Salon d’Automne, Catalogue des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, dessin, gravure, architecture et art décoratif, exh. cat. (Compagnie française des papiers-monnaie, 1906), cat. 124.
Charles Morice, Paul Gauguin (H. Floury, 1919), p. 9 (ill.).
Association Paris–Amerique Latine, Exposition rétrospective; Hommage au génial artiste franco-péruvien Gauguin, with introductions by F. Cossio del Pomar and G. Daniel de Monfreid, exh. cat. (n.p., 1926), cat. 65.
Marcel Guérin, L’oeuvre gravé de Gauguin (H. Floury, 1927; Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1980), n.pag., under cat. 3.
Kunsthalle Basel, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, exh. cat. (Kunsthalle Basel, 1928), p. 27, cat. 168.
Kunsthalle Basel, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, exh. cat., 2nd ed. (Kunsthalle Basel, 1928), p. 27, cat. 158.
Galerien Thannhauser, Paul Gauguin, 1848–1903, introduction by W. Barth, exh. cat. (Galerien Thannhauser, 1928), p. 13, cat. 134.
Arsène Alexandre, Paul Gauguin: Sa vie et le sens de son oeuvre (Bernheim-Jeune, 1930), p. 13 (ill.).
Leicester Galleries, Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Durrio Collection of Works by Paul Gauguin, exh. cat. (Ernest Brown & Phillips, 1931), p. 8, cat. 28.
Albert Roullier Art Galleries, An Exhibition of Original Drawings and Lithographs by Modern Masters, exh. cat. (R.R. Donnelley & Sons, 1931), no pag. no. (ill. on front cover).
Daniel Catton Rich, Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago, exh. cat. (Arts Club of Chicago, 1938), cat. 52.
John Rewald, Gauguin, ed. André Gloeckner (French and European Publications, 1938), pp. 67 (ill.), 166.27
Maurice Malingue, Gauguin (Documents d’Art, 1943), pp. 129 (ill.), 156.
Monroe Wheeler and John Rewald, Modern Drawings, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1944), p. 91, no cat. no.
Robert Goldwater and Carl O. Schniewind, Gauguin: Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York City, Inc., exh. cat. (Wildenstein & Co., 1956), p. 20, cat. 55.
Frederick B. Adams, Carl O. Schniewind, 1900–1957: Catalogue of the Carl O. Schniewind Memorial Exhibition of Prints and Drawings, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1958), n.pag., cat. 10.
John Rewald, Gauguin Drawings, Bittner Art Book (T. Yoseloff, 1958), p. 24, pl. 13 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1959), p. 63, cat. 74.
Merete Bodelsen, “Gauguin’s Bathing Girl,” Burlington Magazine 674, no. 101 (May 1959), pp. 186–88, fig. 40.
Merete Bodelsen, “The Missing Link in Gauguin’s Cloisonism,” Gazette des beaux-arts 53 (May–June 1959), p. 338.
Jean Leymarie, Paul Gauguin: Water-colours, Pastels, and Drawings in Colour (Faber & Faber, 1961), pp. 3–4 (ill.).28 Translated as Gauguin: Aquarelles, pastels et dessins (Skira, 1988), p. 13 (ill.).
Ira Moskowitz, Great Drawings of All Time, vol. 3 (Shorewood, 1962), n.pag., no. 822 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, Master Drawings from the Art Institute of Chicago: An Exhibition Held at Wildenstein, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1963), n. pag., cat. 114, pl. XLII.
Merete Bodelsen, review of Paul Gauguin: Water-Colours, Pastels, and Drawings in Colour by Jean Leymarie, Burlington Magazine 105, no. 723 (June 1963), p. 285.
Merete Bodelsen, Gauguin’s Ceramics: A Study in the Development of His Art (Faber & Faber, 1964), n.pag., fig. 69.
Georges Wildenstein, Gauguin, with Raymond Cogniat and Daniel Wildenstein, vol. 1, Catalogue (Beaux-Arts, 1964), p. 79, under cat. 215.
René Huyghe, Gauguin (Flammarion, 1967), p. 23 (ill.).
Ronald Pickvance, The Drawings of Gauguin (P. Hamlyn, 1970), p. 22, pl. 16 (ill.).
Society of the Four Arts, Drawings from the Art Institute of Chicago, exh cat. (Society of the Four Arts, 1974), n.pag., cat. 20.
Barbara Hope Steinberg, Understanding Gauguin (A&W Visual Library, 1976), p. 19 (ill.).
Harold Joachim and Sandra Haller Olsen, French Drawings and Sketchbooks of the Nineteenth Century, vol. 2 (University ofChicago Press, 1979), pp. 56–57, no. 3E2.
Richard R. Brettell, Françoise Cachin, Claire Frèches-Thory, and Charles F. Stuckey, The Art of Paul Gauguin, with assistance from Peter Zegers, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C./Art Institute of Chicago/New York Graphic Society Books, 1988), pp. 84–85, cat. 35 (ill.).
Alan Bowness, Gauguin (Phaidon, 1992), p. 52, fig. 15.
Ingo F. Walther, Paul Gauguin (1848–1903): The Primitive Sophisticate (Benedikt Taschen, 1992), p. 10 (ill.).
Belinda Thomson, ed., Gauguin by Himself (Bullfinch, 1993), pp. 80, 304, fig. 54.
André Cariou, Les peintres de Pont-Aven (Ouest-France, 1994), p. 49 (ill.).
Douglas Druick and Peter Zegers, Paul Gauguin: Pages from the Pacific, exh. cat. (Auckland City Art Gallery, 1995), p. 26, fig. 50.
Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Paul Gauguin: E l’avanguardia russa, exh. cat. (Artificio, 1995), p. 180 (ill.).
Jean-Pierre Zingg, Les éventails de Paul Gauguin (Avant & Après, 1996), p. 34, fig. 2.
Vojtěch Jirat-Wasiutyeński, “Decorative Fragments: Paul Gauguin’s Presentation of HisOwn Drawings,” Historic Framing and Presentation of Watercolours, Drawings and Prints (Institute of Paper Conservation, 1997), pp. 53–55, fig. 2.
Belinda Thomson, Gauguin (Thames & Hudson, 1997), p. 46, fig. 34.
Anna Maria Damigella, Paul Gauguin: La vita e l’opera (Mondadori, 1997), p. 82 (ill.).
Vojtěch Jirat-Wasiutyeński and H. Travers Newton, Jr., Technique and Meaning in the Paintings of Paul Gauguin (Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp. 76; 148, fig. 74; 150.
Britt Salvesen, Gauguin, in association with Douglas W. Druick and Peter Kort Zegers, Artists in Focus (Art Institute of Chicago/Abrams, 2001), pp. 76, 107, no. 5 (ill.).
Daniel Wildenstein, Gauguin: Premier itinéraire d’un sauvage: Catalogue de l’oeuvre peint (1873–1888), with Sylvie Crussard and Martine Heudron, vol. 2 (Skira, 2001), p. 312 (ill.), under cat. 241.
André Cariou, ed., L’aventure de Pont-Aven et Gauguin, exh. cat. (Skira, 2003), p. 80, fig. 31.
Douglas W. Druick, Ann Dumas, Gloria Groom, Anne Roquebert, and Gary Tinterow, Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, ed. Rebecca A. Rabinow, exh. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/Yale University Press, 2006), pp. 63, 65, 367, cat. 101, fig. 63.
Heather Lemonedes, Belinda Thomson, and Agnieszka Juszczak, Paul Gauguin: Paris, 1889, with contributions by Chris Stolwijk and Moyna Stanton, exh. cat. (Hatje Cantz, 2009), p. 127, fig. 52 (ill.).
Javier González de Durana, Miriam Alzuri, and María Amezaga, Francisco Durrio (1868–1940): Sobre las huellas de Gauguin, exh. cat. (Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2013), p. 208, no. 2 (ill.).
André Cariou, Gauguin et l’école de Pont-Aven (Hazan, 2015), p. 42, fig. 42.

Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, “Salon d’automne: 4me exposition,” Oct. 6–Nov. 15, 1906, cat. 124, as Pastel (Femme bretonne).
Paris, Association Paris–Amerique Latine, “Exposition retrospective; Hommage au génial artiste franco-péruvien Gauguin,” Dec. 17, 1926, cat. 65, as Femme devant la mer.
Kunsthalle Basel, “Paul Gauguin,” July-August, 1928, p. 27, cat. 168 (1st ed.), cat. 158 (2nd ed.), as Badendes Bretonemädchen.
Berlin, Galerien Thannhauser, “Paul Gauguin: 1848-1903,” October 1928, p. 13, cat. 134, as Badendes Bretonemädchen,
London, The Leicester Galleries, “Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Durrio Collection of Works by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903),” May-June, 1931, p. 8, cat. 28.
Chicago, Albert Roullier Art Galleries, “An Exhibition of Original Drawings and Lithographs by Modern Masters,” November 10-13, 1931 (ill.).
Chicago, Arts Club, “Loan Exhibition of Modern Paintings and Drawings from Private Collections in Chicago,” November 4-25, 1938, cat. 52, as The Bathers Brittany.
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, “Modern Drawings,” February 16-May 10, 1944, p. 91, cat. by Monroe Wheeler.
New York, Wildenstein and Company, “Gauguin,” April 5-May 5, 1956, p. 20, cat. 55 as Baigneuse bretonne.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Carl O. Schniewind: Memorial Exhibition,” January 22–March 3, 1958, cat. 10.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture,” February 12-March 29, 1959, p. 63, cat. 74; traveled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 23-May 31, 1959.
New York, Wildenstein and Company, “Master Drawings from the Art Institute of Chicago,” October 17-November 30, 1963, n.p., cat. 114 (ill.).
Palm Beach, Fla., Society of Four Arts, “Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago,” January 5–27, 1974, cat. 20.
Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, “The Art of Paul Gauguin,” pp. 84-85, cat. 35 (ill.); traveled to The Art Institute of Chicago, September 17-December 11, 1988.
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Art Institute of Chicago, “Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde,” 2006-2007, pp. 63, 65, 367, cat. 101, fig. 63; Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 13, 2006-January 7, 2007, and The Art Institute of Chicago, February 17-May 13, 2007.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Gauguin: Artist as Alchemist”, June 25 - September 10, 2017, pp. 22, 71n17, 166, 171, cat. 96, cat. by Gloria Groom, et. al., traveled to Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais, October 9, 2017 - January 21, 2018.

On consignment by the artist to Georges Chaudet (1870-1899), Paris; possibly, Ambroise Vollard (1867-1939), October 19, 1895. Francisco “Paco” Durrio (1868-1940), Paris, by 1906-at 1928 [Leicester Galleries, 1931]; Left by Francisco “Paco” Durrio at Kunsthalle Basel for exhibition in 1928 [Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2013]; Walther Geiser (1897-1993), Basel, by Jan. 18, 1931 [Geiser personal papers]; consigned to Lucas Lichtenhan (1897–1969), Basel, on Jan. 18, 1931 [Geiser personal papers]; sold for Walther Geiser by Lucas Lichtenhan in 1931 [Geiser personal papers]. Albert Roullier Art Galleries, Chicago, by Nov. 1931 [Roullier Galleries, 1931]. Mrs. Charles Goodspeed (née Elizabeth Fuller, later Mrs. Gilbert Chapman; 1893–1980), Chicago, by 1938 [Arts Club of Chicago, 1938]; given to the Art Institute, 1946.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.