Featured Authentication - possible Gauguin's travel sketchbook.

I've a possible Gauguin's travel sketchbook during his Tahiti's stays. The cloth book measures 9 1/4" x 6 1/2". Unfortunately, most pages have been clipped and only two full page remains along with a partial page.
- One watercolor(woman with flower)
- One b/w drawing (various faces)
- One motifs drawing (partial page).

In addition, I've a separated watercolor, purportedly clipped from the same book. The paper type is the same as the book. On reverse side of the front of the cover, there is some pencil's drawings and some writings in Tahitian I wasn't able to decipher.
On the rear side, there is an address of Vollard, an art dealer and Daniel de Montfried, his friend and some Tahitian writings.

Full gallery of images here:
https://imgur.com/a/aPUf92z

Wonder if you know any Gauguin's experts you can direct me to for a preliminary review. It maybe a fake and I'd like to clip the pages for framing.


Thanks for any help !

 

Is this the writing you mean?



I see French for Sea salt/ carbonate of potash/ feldspar/ on the ____, x sand with what looks like a measurement after it/ clay & a quantity. The recipe for something, possibly something to clean with.

 

This is the writings ... on the front rear cover. Some Tahitians writings.

 

I don't know if we have a member who can tell you about it, but no one is going to try until we have it in an easier to read photo.

The artwork shown does not particularly look like Gauguin's to me. Do you have any evidence other than what you have shown to believe it is? The color piece looks pretty hippy-dippy to me.

We may be able to help you come to some conclusion about whether or not this is worth pursuing as lost work by Gauguin. We can't authenticate it. People here know all sorts of things, so I wouldn't ever rule it out that someone is a Gauguin expert, or knows one. If you're convinced the work is Gauguin's, an auction house appraisal department is the place to start.

 

I've absolutely no evidence. It's just a sketchbook with some handwriting that looks like his. It's numbered, so it's possible that there maybe another sketchbook similar to this one out there. The b/w sketches of the faces look similar to some of his paintings. The sketchbook looks old, on heavy paper. Maybe an elaborate fake. Else, I really have no idea.

Attached is a blown up image of the rear front cover writings. So hopefully, someone with the knowledge of the language can pinpoint to what it means. Thanks for the help.

 

student's joke.
hakuna matata.

 

It is a nice sketchbook, but I think it was by someone who was inspired by Gauguin. The sketches don't look very Gauguin. The shapes of the faces, yes, but not the technique.
From what I can tell, with the little knowledge I have of Polynesian languages, the Tahitian words are real Tahitian.
I don't think it was intended to be a fake. Many artists went to Tahiti to follow the Gauguin dream. And many were even more disillusioned than he was. It would be interesting to find out whose sketchbook it is, but that will require some digging into who Vollard and de Montfreid knew.

It doesn't look like Gauguin's handwriting to me
Gauguin:


Your sketchbook:

It is pre-Columbian Maya meets Tahiti. A bit like Gauguin, who was inspired by pre-Columbian Peru, after all he was part Peruvian.

 

Is it number 2? Otherwise there were at least as many other sketchbooks as N - 1, & probably at least as many after it. Artists who don't go anywhere without a sketchbook can accumulate hundreds. I don't think this is fake anything, I only doubt it has anything to do with Gauguin other than, as AJ has said, owner having had him as inspiration.

Sounds like he was also using it as a notebook, maybe with the idea that he too could sell finished work through them. I'm really most interested in the recipe that starts with sea salt. Could have ethnographic value.

 

ask at Drouot Paris or compare the scripts of Vollard and yours.
https://www.gazette-drouot.com/lots/10167638

 

It's number 1x something. So I guess there maybe other copies out there. If the previous owner had him as inspiration, not sure why he went out to copy his handwriting, Gauguin's flowery handwriting style is not easy to copy. I found some images from his Noa Noa sketchbook with his hand writing and compared it to the rear cover of the book. They look somewhat similar as in the attached images.

 

Guessing when you were in school penmanship was no longer a going concern as an academic subject. When you were taught cursive, it was in some particular style, e.g., Palmer method, & the handwriting of 2 people who learned their penmanship in the same country during roughly the same period are quite likely to have handwriting that is 'somewhat similar'.

 

Here is a link for Gauguin's sketches, I don't see any as quickly, lightly sketched and with light (unfinished) shading, his sketch work appears to me to be much more dramatic -

https://www.google.com/search?q=pau...&biw=1616&bih=921#imgrc=gXNuV913okOREM:&vet=1

 

@redwindart , where did you get these sketches?

 

Even the sketchyest of sketches is not nearly shaded so juvenilely as this one, but I'm still not saying it's "not" his. Either way, it will be worth your time and effort to have this professionally authenticated.

https://www.paulfrasercollectibles....in-sketch-leads-at-8-000-amid-artist-ephemera

 

Thank you for the insights. The two women sketches on the front cover differs from the middle page in style. I'll look into having it authenticated. Perhaps a handwriting expert can tell right away, there is enough writings in there for comparisons.

I got it over 15 years ago at small auction house as after Gauguin. It maybe an elaborate fake, still like the watercolor/drawing and was planning to clip it for framing.

 

Worth getting it checked out (since it is free), but I think it is unlikely to be what you hope it to be. I agree that at first the handwriting looks similar, but if you look closely you'll see several significant differences. Most obvious is lower case "f" - very different between the two. Also upper case "D", "G" and "T", probably others since I didn't spend long looking.