Amateur art collector, David A. Hiser, Jr., knew who drew the woman's arm in the carving because he had been collecting art and antiques for over forty years. The outline of the arm was a soft French curve, but yet the arm was muscular. He knew of only one artist who drew like this—Paul Gauguin. But why did the carving look German? Wasn't Gauguin French or Peruvian?

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The unattributed carving was being sold on a Craigslist website ad in 2017, and David A. Hiser Jr. purchased it for $500, without knowing much more than who created it.

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In Finding Gauguin: Paul Gauguin's Lost Masterpiece, David A. Hiser, Jr. deciphers this complicated Symbolist carving and puts the piece in historical context.