Femme tatouée de Falalap. Ouest Carolines (Tattooed woman of Falalap. West Carolines) 1935

Created by Paul Jacoulet during his second year as a printmaker, this work hung over the artist’s bed for many years and is believed to have been one of his favourites. Produced from a pencil sketch and a watercolour painting developed in 1933 in the West Carolines, it reveals Jacoulet’s interest in capturing the people and customs of the islands he visited. The sitter, her hands decorated with tattoos, holds a shell while reclining against a shaded blue-grey colour field sprinkled with finely ground mother-of-pearl, denoting sand.

Departing from the Japanese print traditions that so often portray beautiful young women, Jacoulet said:

I think classical styles of female beauty are not the only subject for ukiyo-e, and that contemporary men and women, young and old, are also suitable subjects, so I depict beauty based on actual people . . .