Gauguin (Paul) Lot n° 33

Ɵ Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé. Original etching. 1891.
Etching numbered 47/79 in graphite lower right, printed on japon, originally intended for the deluxe edition of Charles Morice's monograph, Paul Gauguin, H. Floury, Paris, 1919 (Morgan/Kornfeld/Joachim 12/II/B/b (33 x 24 cm).
A fine print of this famous portrait taken shortly after his meeting with the poet, and just before his departure for Tahiti.
It was Charles Morice who introduced Gauguin to Mallarmé at the end of 1890, crystallizing an already mutual esteem. A few weeks later, Gauguin produced the present etching - one of his only two etchings - with references to
L'Après-midi d'un Faune (the pointed ear and the curve of the nose) and to Edgar Poe's translation of The Raven (the raven surmounting the portrait). It was Paul Sérusier who introduced Gauguin to engraving, whose prints were then mainly woodcuts.
Only ten or so proofs printed by Gauguin on various papers are known. The present edition of 79 copies on Japon was produced mainly for the 60 first copies of Charles Morice's 1919 monograph.
Provenance: Bernard Loliée.