Paul GAUGUIN (1848-1903) in collaboration with Armand SEGUIN (1869-1903) Woman with figs. 1894-1895. Etching on zinc. 442 x 267 mm. Mongan, Kornfeld and Joachim (Gauguin) 25 I C; Field 80. Very fine proof printed in olive green on ivory simili-japan, from the 1st edition before copper reduction, executed in 1899, numbered in pencil. Band of gummed kraft paper along upper edge verso. Fine oblique broken fold above the upper right corner of the copper. Small light moisture halos to right edge of folio. Two long oblique folds in lower right margin. Full margins. Edition of 100 proofs for the album Germinal (J. Meier-Graefe, La Maison Moderne ed.), with the dry stamp in the upper right-hand corner of the folio. It is now considered that in this four-hand print, Gauguin drew the motif with a point on the varnish, and Seguin applied the acid, since at the time he had a better command of the technique than Seguin. Until then, Gauguin had produced only one etching, the portrait of Mallarmé, in 1891. He seems to have wanted to explore this etching technique while staying with Seguin in Saint-Julien au Pouldu. The trees engraved on this plate are strongly influenced by Seguin's etchings, which Gauguin may have studied. The woman's face is that of Madeleine, Emile Bernard's sister, for whom Gauguin had felt an attraction since 1888. We know of a letter from Eugène Delâtre, dated 6 April 1938, which relates the origin of this plate: "... As far as the Gauguin plate is concerned, this is the story. Mr Seguin was in Brittany with these artists. They started engraving etchings on bad zinc. Only Monsieur Seguin knew a thing or two about etching. So he varnished an etching by Monsieur Gauguin and had it etched. But it was the artist himself who drew it and engraved it on the metal. This plate remained in my studio, never having received an order to strike out. Like many others, we used it as a false margin to make small prints. It is now completely worn. You can hardly see the subject". (Quoted in M. Grivel dir., Gauguin et l'École de Pont-Aven, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, 1989, n° 12, p. 32). Expert : Hélène BONAFOUS-MURAT