Currently not on view
Te Fare Amu (The House for Eating),
1895 or 1897
From 1895 until his death in 1903, Gauguin lived in French Polynesia; he never returned to France. In an attempt to immerse himself in Oceanic culture, Gauguin built traditional Polynesian homes, with separate structures for sleeping and for eating, first on Tahiti and later on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. As part of his long-standing project to integrate art with daily life, the artist decorated these buildings with sequoia or redwood panels—reused packing material from California—hand-carved and painted by the artist in a style meant to suggest his vision of an aboriginal Maori culture. While the inscription translates as "House for Eating," the dark figures allude to the more seductive pleasures that the artist imagined to be part of his island life.
More Context
Special Exhibition
Gauguin’s attempts to integrate art with daily life continued when he moved to Polynesia in 1895, seeking a simpler life. He carved this work in a consciously crude style, meant to suggest his vision of a "primal" Tahitian culture. The man with red hair may represent Gauguin (although the artist’s hair was dark), while the seductively posed woman at the left has been identified as a prostitute. This carving, in wood recently identified as sequoia, decorated one of Gauguin’s two homes in Tahiti. Although the inscription can be translated as "House for Eating," the exact placement of the panel in the house is unknown.
Information
1895 or 1897
Émile Schuffenecker (1851–1934); Amédée Schuffenecker (1854–1935), Paris, by 1928; by descent to Émile’s daughter, Jeanne Schuffenecker (1882–), Paris. [Katia Granoff (1895–1989), Paris, by 1949]. [Galerie Zak, Paris]; sold to Henry Pearlman, by 21 Oct. 1955; Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, 1983.
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<em>A loan exhibition of paintings, watercolors and sculpture from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman:for the benefit of Greenwich House</em>, (New York: M. Knoedler & Co., 1959)., Cat. 41 (illus.)
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<em>An exhibition of 19th & 20th century painting and sculpture from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman, </em>(New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1960)., Cat. [2]
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<em>The Henry Pearlman Collection, </em>(New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1964)., No. 23
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<em>Cézanne and his contemporaries: The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman Collection</em>, (Detroit, MI: Detroit Institute of Art, 1967)., Cat. 29
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<em>Impressionism, Post-impressionism, Expressionism: The Mr. & Mrs. Henry Pearlman Collection of Works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Manet, Modigliani, Soutine, and Others </em>(Hartford, CT: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1970)., Cat. 32
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Linda Ferber and Leonore Sundberg<em>, An exhibition of paintings, watercolors, sculpture and drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman and Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation</em>, (New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1974)., Cat. 62 (illus.)
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Rachael Z. DeLue et al., <em>Cézanne and the Modern: masterworks of European art from the Pearlman Collection,</em> (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014)., 58 (illus.)
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Exposition Paul Gauguin (1917)
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Gauguin, sculpteur et graveur (January - February, 1928)
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La vie ardente de Paul Gauguin (November 1936)
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Gauguin: exposition du centenaire (1949)
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Westchester Creative Arts, Brandeis Festival (April 20-22, 1956)
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Anonymous Collection (July 1–September 1, 1958)
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A Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors and Sculpture from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman for the Benefit of Greenwich House (January 27 - February 21, 1959)
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Gauguin: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture (February 12 - March 29, 1959)
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An Exhibition of 19th & 20th Century Painting and Sculpture from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman (Wednesday, June 29, 1960 - Monday, September 5, 1960)
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The Henry Pearlman Collection (Friday, May 22, 1964 - Thursday, October 15, 1964)
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Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman (Sunday, June 20, 1965 - Sunday, October 17, 1965)
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Seven Decades, 1895-1965: Crosscurrents in Modern Art (April 26 - May 21, 1966)
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Gauguin and the Decorative Style (June 23 - October 23, 1966)
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Cézanne and His Contemporaries: The Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman Collection (Wednesday, June 14, 1967 - Sunday, October 1, 1967)
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New York Collects, 1968 (July 3 - September 2, 1968)
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Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Expressionism: The Mr. & Mrs. Henry Pearlman Collection of Works by Cézanne, Van Gogh, Degas, Tolouse-Lautrec, Manet, Modigliani, Soutine, and Others (Wednesday, June 10, 1970 - Sunday, October 4, 1970)
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Summer Loan 1971: Paintings from New York Collections: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman and the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation (July 13 - September 7, 1971)
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An Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors, Sculpture and Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pearlman and the Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation (Wednesday, May 22, 1974 - Sunday, September 29, 1974)
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The Lure of the Exotic: Gauguin in New York Collections (June 18–October 20, 2002)
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Gauguin's Paradise Remembered: The Noa Noa Prints (September 25, 2010–January 2, 2011)
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Paul Gauguin (October 18, 2013–February 9, 2014)
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Cézanne and the Modern: Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman Collection (September 19, 2015–January 03, 2016)
Share your feedback with us
The Museum regularly researches its objects and their collecting histories, updating its records to reflect new information. We also strive to catalogue works of art using language that is consistent with how people, subjects, artists, and cultures describe themselves. As this effort is ongoing, the Museum’s records may be incomplete or contain terms that are no longer acceptable. We welcome your feedback, questions, and additional information that you feel may be useful to us. Email us at collectionsinfo@princeton.edu.
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