Paul Gauguin

Gauguin's detailed depiction of a woman's nude torso bears a traditional title, "La Mulatresse" or the Mulatto Woman, referring to her heritage as the child of parents of African and European descent. The identification raises some interesting questions. It calls to mind the unsettling painting traditionally called "Annah the Javanese," depicting a thirteen-year-old girl with whom Gauguin lived following his return from Tahiti to France in August 1893. She is said to have been unhoused when he met her and is now known to have been Sinhalese from Sri Lanka.
While the sitter for the present study also wears her hair drawn up and a pair of dangling earrings, her hairstyle is different, with a fringe around her face. We do not know who served as the model, but the drawing was likely made during this interim period before the artist returned for good to Tahiti in 1894.