Georges Rouault

For more information on Georges-Henri Rouault, visit Britannica.com.

(b Paris, 27 May 1871; d Paris, 13 Feb 1958). French painter, draughtsman and printmaker. Although he first came to prominence with works displayed in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne in Paris, in the company of paintings by Henri Matisse and other initiators of Fauvism, he established a highly personal and emotive style. His technique and palette were also highly personal, and they ranged from watercolour blues to a rich, thick application of materials. These demonstrate, in their very complexity, not only originality but also the craft of the artist always in search of a greater form of expression. Even though he never stopped observing mankind, his deep religious feeling allowed him to imbue his work with great spirituality.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Georges Rouault (1871-1958), a French painter and graphic artist, was one of the most outstanding religious painter of the modern movement.

Georges Rouault was born on May 27, 1871, in Paris. His father was a cabinet-maker, and the family had artistic interests. Between 1885 and 1890 Rouault worked as an apprentice to stained-glass painters on the restoration of medieval windows and attended evening classes at the École des Arts Décoratifs. His predilection for luminous colors and black outlines had its origin in these early experiences.

In 1890 Rouault entered the École des Beaux-Arts, and the following year Gustave Moreau became his teacher. Henri Matisse and Albert Marquet were fellow students. Rouault became Moreau's favorite pupil, and his early works (mainly religious themes, with some portraits and somber landscapes) were painted in a traditional manner very like his teacher's. Rouault competed twice for the Prix de Rome (1893 and 1895), both times without success. In 1894, however, the artist won both a prize and a competition.

In 1901 Rouault spent some time in the Benedictine abbey at Ligugé, where the author J. K. Huysman tried to organize a brotherhood of artists. In 1903 Rouault became the first curator of the Moreau Museum and participated in the foundation of the Salon d'Automne with Matisse and Marquet. In 1904 Rouault met the Catholic writer Léon Bloy and, influenced by him, sought to depict the tragedy of the human condition. At that year's Salon d'Automne a large number of Rouault's watercolors appeared, depicting prostitutes, clowns, and acrobats painted in gloomy colors. Although he exhibited with the Fauves in 1905, he did not belong to this or any other group.

Rouault's Prostitute before Her Mirror (1906) is depicted with fierce loathing and revulsion. The series of judges and politicians, in which he attacked injustice and hypocrisy, began in 1908 and continued to about 1916. He also painted the poor and the humble. His indignation was expressed not only in subject matter but also in his brush-work.

In 1908 Rouault married Marthe Le Sidaner; they had four children. His first one-man show took place in Paris in 1910. In 1911 he moved to Versailles, where the philosopher Jacques Maritain and his wife were neighbors. In 1917 Ambroise Vollard became Rouault's dealer and set him up in a large studio in Paris. Between 1917 and 1927 Vollard commissioned illustrations for several books (Pe‧re Ubu, The Circus, Les Fleurs du mal, Miserere, and Guerre). Rouault developed a new and complex technique in his graphic work and worked in etching, wood engraving, and color lithography.

In 1918, when Rouault abandoned watercolor and gouache for oil, his palette became lighter and more jewellike. The artist's fury was replaced by compassion, as in his tender faces of Christ. His mature work has a vibrant luminosity, and heavy black outlines define the forms. Masterpieces of this style are the Old King (1937) and the Head of Christ (1937-1938).

Rouault wrote both prose and poetry. He also published autobiographical books, such as Souvenirs intimes (1926) and Stella Vespertina (1947). He produced designs for tapestries, stained-glass windows (church in Assy), and enamels. In 1929 he executed the sets and costumes for Sergei Diaghilev's ballet The Prodigal Son.

Between 1940 and 1956 large restrospective exhibitions of Rouault's work took place in many European and American museums and even in Japan. He died in Paris on Feb. 13, 1958, and was given a state funeral.

Further Reading

The most comprehensive study of Rouault is Pierre Courthion, Georges Rouault (1962), which contains a classified catalog, bibliography, list of exhibitions, and index. A useful survey of his life and work is Lionello Venturi, Rouault: Biographical and Critical Study (1959). For reproductions and commentary on his work see the two publications of the New York Museum of Modern Art: Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints, by James Thrall Soby (1945; 3d ed. 1947), and Georges Rouault, Miserere, with a preface by Rouault and an introduction by M. Wheeler (1952).

Additional Sources

Dorival, Bernard. Rouault, New York: Crown Publishers, 1984.

Rouault, Georges (1871-1958). French painter and engraver; also a poet in Paysages légendaires (1929). His naturally calligraphic style developed into forceful outlining, partly indebted to an early training in stained-glass production. Large-format heads loomed into icons. He abhorred the wrongs of society, courtrooms, and war. Through his compassion for humanity (prostitutes, clowns, the accused) he revealed the soul while painting the body or the public costume. He respected Baudelaire for recognizing the talent of Daumier, whose penetrating observation and telling delineation Rouault echoed. For the dealer Ambroise Vollard he produced a series of nearly 60 huge etchings, Miserere et Guerre, and smaller etchings and wood-engravings illustrating Vollard's text Les Réincarnations du Père Ubu. Rivière, Apollinaire, and Malraux reviewed his work.

[Helen Beale]

Quotes:

"Painting is a way to forget life. It is a cry in the night, a strangled laugh."

Georges Henri Rouault^[p] (27 May 1871 – 13 February 1958) was a French Fauvist and Expressionist painter, and printmaker in lithography and etching.

Head of Christ

Contents 1 Childhood and education 2 Early works 3 Expressionist works 4 Notes 5 References 5.1 Online Resources 5.2 Books

Childhood and education

Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family. His mother encouraged his love for the arts, and in 1885 the fourteen-year-old Rouault embarked on an apprenticeship as a glass painter and restorer, which lasted until 1890. This early experience as a glass painter has been suggested as a likely source of the heavy black contouring and glowing colours, likened to leaded glass, which characterize Rouault's mature painting style. During his apprenticeship, he also attended evening classes at the School of Fine Arts, and in 1891, he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the official art school of France. There he studied under Gustave Moreau and became his favorite student. Rouault's earliest works show a symbolism in the use of colour that probably reflects Moreau's influence, and when Moreau died in 1898, Rouault was nominated as the curator of the Moreau Museum in Paris.

Early works

Georges Rouault also met Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, Henri Manguin, and Charles Camoin. These friendships brought him to the movement of Fauvism, the leader of which was considered to be Matisse.

In 1891 Rouault painted "The Way to Calvary".

From 1895 on, he took part in major public exhibitions, notably the Salon d’Automne (which he helped to found), where paintings with religious subjects, landscapes and still lifes were shown. In 1905 he exhibited his paintings at the Salon d’Automne with the other Fauvists. While Matisse represented the reflective and rationalized aspects in the group, Rouault embodied a more spontaneous and instinctive style.

His use of stark contrasts and emotionality is credited to the influence of Vincent van Gogh. His characterizations of overemphasized grotesque personalities inspired the expressionist painters.

Expressionist works

In 1907, Rouault commenced a series of paintings dedicated to courts, clowns and prostitutes. These paintings are interpreted as moral and social criticism. He became attracted to Spiritualism and the dramatic existentialism of the philosopher Jacques Maritain, who remained a close friend for the rest of his life. After that, he dedicated himself to religious subjects. Human nature was always the focus of his interest. Rouault said: "A tree against the sky possesses the same interest, the same character, the same expression as the figure of a human."

In 1910, Rouault had his first works exhibited in the Druet Gallery. His works were studied by German artists from Dresden, who later formed the nucleus of expressionism.

From 1917, Rouault dedicated himself to painting. The Christian faith informed his work in his search for inspiration and marks him out as perhaps the most passionate Christian artist of the 20th century: first of all, in the theme of the passion of Christ. The face of Jesus and the cries of the women at the feet of the cross are symbols of the pain of the world, which for Rouault was relieved by belief in resurrection.

In 1929 Rouault created the designs for Diaghilev's ballet "The Prodigal Son", with music by Prokofiev and choreography by Balanchine.

In 1930 he also began to exhibit in foreign countries, mainly in London, New York and Chicago.

In 1937 Rouault painted "The Old King" -- arguably his very finest expressionist work.

He exhibited his cycle Miserere in 1948.

At the end of his life he burned 300 of his pictures (estimated to be worth today about more than half a billion francs). Rouault died in Paris in 1958.

Photograph of house in Beaumont sur Sarthe, Pays De La Loire, France, claiming Georges Rouault to have lived there.

Notes

[p] - The name Georges Rouault is pronounced as "Zhorzh Roo-oh".

References

Online Resources

• "Rouault, Georges." The Columbia Encyclopedia
• Georges Rouault Online at Artcyclopedia.com.
• "Georges Rouault." at Artchive.com
• "George Rouault" at Spaightwood Galleries
• Lots of Rouault images hosted by Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
• Information on Rouault and the German Expressionist movement
• Rouault's complete Miserere
• Georges Rouault Miserere - Exhibition in Ancona (Italy)
• Works by Georges Rouault

Books

• Dyrness, William A. Rouault: A Vision of Suffering and Salvation. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1971.
• Maritain, Jacques. Georges Rouault. The Pocket Library of Great Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1954.
• Getlein, Frank and Dorothy Getlein. George Rouault's Miserere. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1964.
• San Lazzaro, G. di. Homage to George Rouault. New York: Tudor, 1971.
• Courthion, Pierre. Rouault. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1961.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Georges Rouault

• Kochno, Boris. Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. New York: Harper & Row. 1979.

v • d • e Fauvism Leaders Henri Matisse · André Derain Others Alice Bailly · Georges Braque · Charles Camoin · Kees van Dongen · Raoul Dufy · Henri Evenepoel · Othon Friesz · Henri Manguin · Albert Marquet · Jean Puy · Georges Rouault · Maurice de Vlaminck Paintings Green Stripe · Woman with a Hat Influences Paul Cezanne · Paul Gauguin · Vincent van Gogh · Gustave Moreau (teacher) · Georges Seurat · Paul Signac · Neo-impressionism · Pointillism Influenced Die Brücke · Neo-Fauvism See also Louis Vauxcelles (critic)

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