A Horse and Birds, headpiece for Le sourire 1899

This woodcut, "A Horse and Birds," is a headpiece from Paul Gauguin's 1899 book "Le Sourire." The design features a central, stylized horse framed by four birds, rendered in a bold, black-and-white style. The simplified forms and bold lines are characteristic of Gauguin's artistic style, which was heavily influenced by non-Western art and the arts of the indigenous people of Polynesia. The woodcut's strong composition and striking imagery contribute to the overall aesthetic of the book, creating a visual counterpoint to the text and adding a layer of symbolic meaning.