Paul Gauguin - Paul Gauguin's rifle butt 1902
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Paul Gauguin's rifle butt 1902
Private Collection
The image is only being used for informational and educational purposes
<< Previous G a l l e r y Next >>
Paul Gauguin's rifle butt, in Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo, Norway. Heyerdahl had bought Gauguin's rifle from merchant Willy Grélet in Fatu Hiva, whose father Louis had been a close friend to Gauguin. However, when Thor and Liv Heyerdahl moved to Hiva Oa to cure their severe carbuncles called fe fe by the Polynesians, the Hiva Oa gendarme, M. Triffe, found out that H. had no licence to carry fire arms and therefore wanted to confiscate the gun.
Heyerdahl unscrewed the barrel, including all metallic parts, and left those to the gendarme, keeping but the butt. Although he tried to have sent the parts given to the gendarme, after returning at home, his letters were never answered.
The butt shows one of the very rare woodcarvings, probably by Gauguin himself. One might see an allusion to famous 'Ox-herding pictures', especially 'riding home'. Copies of this series were quite common by the end of 19th century.
(Book: Heyerdahl, Fatu Hiva, German version, published by Bertelsmann in 1974; on Louis Grélet, see also Karl von den Steinen, 1925).