Rouault, Georges (1871-1958)

Georges Rouault (1871-1958) is uniquely a religious artist, and by some, is considered the most important 20th century Christian artist. He is an artist who has combined genuine faith with modern sensibility: "My ambition is to be able to some day paint a Christ so moving that those who see Him will be converted. He was born on May 27, 1871 in Paris, into a Catholic home. His first job was as an apprentice in a stained glass factory, but he soon left to study painting in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His painting teacher, Gustave Moreau, had a great influence on his life. His life was changed and his sensitivity as an artist was transformed under the influence of Leon Bloy, Jacques and Raissa Maritan, leading him to an evangelical Catholicism. As a Catholic he believed the teaching of the gospel as a solution to the problems of the day. He painted the crucified Christ not as a remote event in the past or some vague traditional symbol, but as the expression of faith that is real. The 58 plates of the Miserere, fifteen of which are in this show, were created mainly in the 1920's to be published by Ambroise Vollard. Probably no artist achieved so much in printmaking as Rouault in his Miserere series. The black and white prints were created by Rouault using nearly every known process of etching and engraving. Through the photoengraving process he establishes his base work on the metal plate. This base disappears almost entirely under the extensive handwork, using aquatint, roulette, dry point line, direct biting with acid, and scraping away parts of the original photoengraved work. Thus, he technically produced one of the most significant print series of the 20th century. "In this series he brings together his whole life's meditation of the poor and oppressed of society, the victims of war, and the way in which these things become part of the passion of Christ. The series was finished in 1927, but was not published until 1948 after Rouault won a law suit against Vollard's estate to secure his rights to the Miserere