The manuscript of ‘Avant et après’ by Paul Gauguin
Credit: The Courtauld.
Descendants of Paul Gauguin fear the manuscript of his "sacred manifesto of modern art" acquired by a British gallery was originally stolen from the painter’s family.
The French artist’s "smutty" but celebrated memoir Avant et Après (Before and After) was plucked from their inheritance and sold off without permission, new research has suggested.
In a coup for the Courtauld Gallery, the manuscript billed as Gauguin’s "last great self-portrait" before his death in 1903 was acquired from a private dealer through a £6.5 million Government tax relief scheme in September.
But an expert on the post-Impressionist painter believes it was "stolen" and there is a case for it to be returned to the artist’s heirs. Gauguin’s great-great-granddaughter Maria told The Daily Telegraph "I want to know the truth", and is supporting claims her ancestors were duped out of their birthright.
These are denied by the Courtauld Gallery, which has acquired the piece after decades of its whereabouts remaining a mystery.
Maria Gauguin, great great granddaughter of the artist Paul Gauguin
Claims centre on letters uncovered by French researcher Fabrice Fourmanoir that reveal Gauguin’s son insisting the memoir he inherited was not for sale. It is alleged the German art dealer, who he entrusted only to make copies of the book, instead sold the manuscript in a 1917 auction during the confusion of the First World War.
"Many times Gauguin denounced the scavengers of the art market… he was right," Mr Fourmanoir told The Telegraph. The expert added: "When Avant et Après reappeared in September with some lost pieces of the puzzle of its history, I worked on my archives, with my networks and with Maria Gauguin to reveal this fraud. I researched Avant et Après for more than 20 years because it’s more than a book, it’s a sacred manifesto for modern art."
Paul Gauguin
Credit: Bridgeman Art Library
Gauguin had entrusted a friend with his part-manifesto part-memoir, filled with barbs about other artists, and musings on topics from missionaries to pornography. It contains illustrations depicting the exotic scenes and Polynesian women he became famous for painting, and latterly infamous for exploiting. Rights to the manuscript went to his son Pola, who gave permission for facsimiles to be made by Kurt Wolff, a German dealer Mr Fourmanoir has claimed, but nothing more.
It has been alleged that the commercially hapless Pola was in effect swindled out of his inheritance, which was sold off in a 1917 auction and passed from collector to collector. In September 2020, it reemerged after being held by the family of merchant Erich Georitz who had fled to Britain in the 1930s, and it was acquired from his heir Thomas through the Government’s Acceptance in Lieu tax break scheme.
The Courtauld Gallery said: "There is no evidence to suggest that the manuscript, Avant et Après, was unlawfully taken from the family of Paul Gauguin prior to the First World War."
Avant et Après will go on display at the Courtauld in 2021.
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