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Te Atua

Print of central seated deity flanked by other gods

Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) 
Te Atua (The Gods), from Noa Noa, Winter 1893–94
Woodcut printed in black, brown, orange, red, and green on cream wove paper, mounted on beige cardboard
Sheet: 8 1/8 x 14 1/16 in. (20.6 x 35.7 cm)
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, 1962.73

In this frieze-like composition, a Javanese Buddha figure at center is flanked at left by two Tahitian gods: Hina, goddess of the moon, and her son Fatu, god of the earth. Above the central figure, the artist’s deep gouging into the woodblock creates an aura of pulsating light. 

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