Editing Paul Gauguin (section)

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 | image1    = Gauguin - Suite Volpini K01Aa.jpg
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 | caption1  = ''Leda (Design for a China Plate)'', 1889, zincograph on yellow paper with watercolour and gouache, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
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 | image2    = Gauguin Aha Oe Feii monotype.jpg
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 | caption2  = ''Aha oe feii'', 1894, watercolour monotype with pen and red and black ink, [[Art Institute of Chicago]]
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Gauguin began making prints in 1889, highlighted by a series of [[zincography|zincographs]] commissioned by Theo van Gogh known as the ''Volpini Suite'', which also appeared in the Cafe des Arts show of 1889. Gauguin was not hindered by his printing inexperience, and made a number of provocative and unorthodox choices, such as a zinc plate instead of limestone ([[lithography]]), wide margins and large sheets of yellow poster paper.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 19.</ref>{{sfn|Bowness|1971|p=11}} The result was vivid to the point of garish, but foreshadows his more elaborate experiments with [[colour printing]] and intent to elevate monochromatic images. 

His first masterpieces of printing were from the ''Noa Noa Suite'' of 1893–94 where he was one of a number of artists reinventing the technique of the [[woodcut]], bringing it into the modern era. He started the series shortly after returning from Tahiti, eager to reclaim a leadership position within the avant-garde and share pictures based on his French Polynesia excursion. These woodcuts were shown at his unsuccessful 1893 show at Paul Durand-Ruel's, and most were directly related to paintings of his in which he had revised the original composition. They were shown again at a small show in his studio in 1894, where he garnered rare critical praise for his exceptional painterly and sculptural effects. Gauguin's emerging preference for the woodcut was not only a natural extension of his wood [[relief]]s and sculpture, but may have also been provoked by its historical significance to medieval artisans and the Japanese.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 19–24.</ref>

[[File:Gauguin, Paul, The Universe is Created (L'Univers est créé), from the Noa Noa suite, 1893–94.jpg|thumb|''The Universe is Created (L'Univers est créé)'', from the Noa Noa suite, 1893–94, [[Princeton University Art Museum]]]]
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Change of Residence (Changement de Residence) - Paul Gauguin.jpg|thumb|''Change of Residence'', 1899, woodcut, private collection]]
[[File:Maruru Merci An Offering of Gratitude by Paul Gauguin.jpeg|thumb|''Maruru (Offerings of Gratitude)'', 1894, woodcut sheet, [[Yale University Art Gallery]]]]

Gauguin started making [[watercolour]] [[monotype]]s in 1894, likely overlapping his ''Noa Noa'' woodcuts, perhaps even serving as a source of inspiration for them. His techniques remained innovative and it was an apt technique for him as it did not require elaborate equipment, such as a printing press. Despite often being a source of practice for related paintings, sculptures or woodcuts, his monotype innovation offers a distinctly ethereal aesthetic; ghostly afterimages that may express his desire to convey the immemorial truths of nature. His next major woodcut and monotype project was not until 1898–99, known as the ''Vollard Suite''. He completed this enterprising series of 475 prints from some twenty different compositions and sent them to the dealer [[Ambroise Vollard]], despite not compromising to his request for salable, conformed work. Vollard was unsatisfied and made no effort to sell them. Gauguin's series is starkly unified with black and white aesthetic and may have intended the prints to be similar to a set of [[myriorama (cards)|myriorama cards]], in which they may be laid out in any order to create multiple panoramic landscapes.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 26–29.</ref> This activity of arranging and rearranging was similar to his own process of repurposing his images and motifs, as well as a [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]] tendency.{{sfn|Cachin|1992|p=119}} He printed the work on tissue-thin Japanese paper and the multiple proofs of gray and black could be arranged on top of one another, each transparency of colour showing through to produce a rich, [[chiaroscuro]] effect.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 30.</ref>

In 1899 he started his radical experiment: oil transfer drawings. Much like his watercolour monotype technique, it was a hybrid of drawing and printmaking. The transfers were the grand culmination of his quest for an aesthetic of primordial suggestion, which seems to be relayed in his results that echo ancient rubbings, worn frescos and cave paintings. Gauguin's technical progress from monotyping to the oil transfers is quite noticeable, advancing from small sketches to ambitiously large, highly finished sheets. With these transfers he created depth and texture by printing multiple layers onto the same sheet, beginning with graphite pencil and black ink for delineation, before moving to blue crayon to reinforce line and add shading. He would often complete the image with a wash of oiled-down olive or brown ink. The practice consumed Gauguin until his death, fueling his imagination and conception of new subjects and themes for his paintings. This collection was also sent to Vollard who remained unimpressed. 

Gauguin prized oil transfers for the way they transformed the quality of drawn line. His process, nearly alchemical in nature, had elements of chance by which unexpected marks and textures regularly arose, something that fascinated him. In metamorphosing a drawing into a print, Gauguin made a calculated decision of relinquishing legibility in order to gain mystery and abstraction.<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 30–32.</ref><ref>Field, pp. 20–22.</ref>

He worked in wood throughout his career, particularly during his most prolific periods, and is known for having achieved radical carving results before doing so with painting. Even in his earliest shows, Gauguin often included wood sculpture in his display, from which he built his reputation as a connoisseur of the so-called primitive. A number of his early carvings appear to be influenced by [[Gothic art|Gothic]] and [[Art of ancient Egypt|Egyptian art]].<ref>Figura, Childs, Foster & Mosier (2014), 37.</ref> In correspondence, he also asserts a passion for [[Cambodian art]] and the masterful colouring of [[Persian carpet]] and [[Oriental rug]].{{sfn|Cachin|1992|pp=180–181}}