Georges Rouault

(1871-1958)

The Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection all began with one painting by Georges Rouault. Although I had picked up numerous religious art objects as souvenirs in my travels, encountering Rouault’s magnificent Christ et docteur made me take the plunge into serious art collecting. One of three paintings from 1937, showing Christ and a Pharisee, this particular study in oil on paper, mounted on canvas, summoned up for me the secret nighttime meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus recorded in the third chapter of the Gospel of John. In Rouault’s rendering of the scene, I could just see the somber Jesus, explaining with his all-embracing arm, how God’s love for the world meant the sacrifice of his Only-Begotten Son. Only Rembrandt could equal this!

The more Rouault works I collect, the more my admiration for this artist of faith grows. Rouault is, for me, the master of contemporary sacred art. From his early claustrophobic, deep sea-colored portraits of prostitutes through the rich grey-black studies in suffering and atonement in the Miserere print cycle to his later paint-crusted, jewel-toned biblical landscapes like Paysage biblique, his artistic career traces a moving and humane trajectory from despair to redemption unequaled in modern art. His numerous studies, alone, of the Crucifixion, including Christ en croix (1925), Christ en croix (1932), and Christ en croix (1936), are a treasure trove of contemplative riches.

Born in a basement in a working class district of Paris during the Communard Uprising of 1871, Rouault came to love art by studying his maternal grandfather’s collection of art reproductions and was apprenticed as a teenager to a stained-glass workshop. He achieved early success, working in the style of his art teacher and mentor French Symbolist Gustave Moreau, but a dramatic shift toward brutally-rendered expressionistic views of Parisian lowlife in 1904 left one-time admirers shocked and angered. Roman Catholic Social Realist Writer Leon Bloy denounced what he termed Rouault’s “leap into utter darkness,” blaming it on a “mental aberration.” Rouault had embarked on the solitary road he would follow to the end of his life.

Rouault’s style of art-making defied conventional labeling. He could not be conveniently classified as a Post-Impressionist or a Fauvist or an Expressionist, though there are, certainly, elements from all these art movements to be seen in his work. When most of his contemporaries embraced abstract art, Rouault remained, stubbornly, figurative in his compositions, even if what he depicts is more true than real. In an age when artists were fleeing the church in droves, Rouault‘s religious faith only deepened.

In 1917, Avant-Garde Art Impressario Ambroise Vollard added Rouault to his stable of promising modernists, which included Picasso and Matisse. Their patron-artist relationship was never an easy one and ended in a landmark 1947 court decision, affirming the artist’s right to ownership of his own work, against the claims of Vollard‘s heirs. The collaboration did result in a splendid series of illustrated, portfolio-format books and fine art suites in which Rouault extended the boundaries of modern graphics. The prints in my collection come from the Miserere suite, begun in 1914 and printed in 1948, Passion by Andres Saures, a series of illustrated meditations on the death of Christ, printed in 1939, and an edition of French Poet Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (produced after Rouault’s death in 1966).

Rouault was one of those rare artists who achieved success in his lifetime. A 1947 monograph by the Modern Art Museum in New York concluded that “in relation to other living artists, [Rouault] emerges as one of the few major figures in 20th century art.” What Rouault once called his “outrageous lyricism” was soon scorned by the advocates of Abstract Expressionism, who came to control the art world in the 1950s-1960s. His undiluted sacred imagery does not seem to suit sardonic, post-modern tastes, either. Not a single one of Rouault’s canvases now hangs on the walls of the new MoMA, and only a small portion of his religious work in Paris museum collections is on display these days. The rest are stored in vaults, lost to sacred art pilgrims

We can, at least, be thankful for two splendid shows, marking the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death in 2008, an exhibition at the Pinacotheque de Paris of masterpieces from the Idemitsu collection in Japan, where Rouault still enjoys an enormous following, and the Boston College show, Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault. The catalogue for the latter exhibit offers an impressive selection of scholarly articles, leading me to hope a revival of critical interest in this seriously neglected sacred artist may now be underway.

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click to enlarge
Self-Portrait
Self-Portrait
George Rouault
Lithograph
23 x 17 cm.

Self-Portrait

Christ et docteur
Christ et docteur
Georges Rouault
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
24.5 x 24 cm.

Christ et docteur

Intimite Chretienne
Intimite Chretienne
Georges Rouault
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
14 x 17 cm.

Intimite Chretienne

Christ et Pilate
Christ et Pilate
Georges Rouault
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
19 x 13 cm.

Christ et Pilate

Paysage anime
Paysage anime
Georges Rouault
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
18 x 26 cm.

Paysage anime

Paysage biblique
Paysage biblique
Georges Rouault
Oil on paper mounted on canvas
17 x 14 cm.

Paysage biblique

Christ en croix (1925)
Christ en croix (1925)
Georges Rouault
Lithograph
30 x 22 cm.

Christ en croix (1925)

Christ en croix (1932)
Christ en croix (1932)
Georges Rouault
Lithograph
30 x 22 cm.

Christ en croix (1932)

Christ en croix (1936)
Christ en croix (1936)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
78 x 57 cm.

Christ en croix (1936)

Miserere (Plate XXVIII)
Miserere (Plate XXVIII)
Aquatint
58 x 44 cm.
From Miserere (L'Etoile Filante, Paris: 1948)
Caption: "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

Miserere (Plate XXVIII)

Miserere (Plate XXX)
Miserere (Plate XXX)
Aquatint
55 x 42 cm
From Miserere (LEtoile Filante, Paris: 1948
Caption: "Know that you were baptized into his death"

Miserere (Plate XXX)

Miserere (Plate XXXII)
Miserere (Plate XXXII)
Aquatint
58 x 45 cm.
From Miserere (L'Etoile Filante, Paris: 1948)
Caption: "Lord, it is You. I know You."

Miserere (Plate XXXII)

Miserere (Plate XXXV)
Miserere (Plate XXXV)
Aquatint
58 x 41 cm.
From Miserere (L'Etoile Filante, Paris: 1948)
Caption: "Jesus will be in agony, even until the end of the world."

Miserere (Plate XXXV)

Miserere (Plate LVII)
Miserere (Plate LVII)
Aquatint
58 x 42 cm.
From Miserere (L'Etoile Filante, Paris: 1948)
Caption: "Obedient unto death, even death on a cross."

Miserere (Plate LVII)

Saint Suaire
Saint Suaire
Georges Rouault
Heliogravure
58 x 44.5 cm.
From an unused plate for the Miserere suite

Saint Suaire

Passion Exhibition Poster
Passion Exhibition Poster
Lithograph
73 x 50 cm.
From Mourlot: 1965

Passion Exhibition Poster

Christ devant la ville (Frontispiece)
Christ devant la ville (Frontispiece)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 23
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ devant la ville (Frontispiece)

Christ au faubourg (Plate II)
Christ au faubourg (Plate II)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
30 x 21 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ au faubourg (Plate II)

Christ au faubourg
Christ au faubourg
Georges Rouault
Aquatint (monochrome)
30 x 21 cm.

Christ au faubourg

Christ prenant conge de sa Mere (Plate V)
Christ prenant conge de sa Mere (Plate V)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 21 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ prenant conge de sa Mere (Plate V)

Christ et les enfants (Plate VI)
Christ et les enfants (Plate VI)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 21 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ et les enfants (Plate VI)

Christ et les enfants
Christ et les enfants
Georges Rouault
Aquatint (monochrome)
31 x 22 cm.

Christ et les enfants

Ecce Homo (Plate VII)
Ecce Homo (Plate VII)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 21 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Ecce Homo (Plate VII)

Ecce Dolor (Plate IX)
Ecce Dolor (Plate IX)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
31 x 22 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Ecce Dolor (Plate IX)

Christ en profil (Plate X)
Christ en profil (Plate X)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 22 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ en profil (Plate X)

Christ et les pilgrimes (Plate XIV)
Christ et les pilgrimes (Plate XIV)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
32 x 22 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ et les pilgrimes (Plate XIV)

Christ et les exegetes (Plate XV)
Christ et les exegetes (Plate XV)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
31 x 22 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Christ et les exegetes (Plate XV)

Les Disciples (Plate XVI)
Les Disciples (Plate XVI)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
31 x 22 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

Les Disciples (Plate XVI)

From "Calvaire des athees"
From "Calvaire des athees"
George Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Calvaire des athees"

From "Calvaire des athees"
From "Calvaire des athees"
George Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Calvaire des athees"

From "Il revoit le Thabor"
From "Il revoit le Thabor"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Il revoit le Thabor"

From "Tete a tete"
From "Tete a tete"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Tete a tete"

From "C. Pontius Pilatus Propraet"
From "C. Pontius Pilatus Propraet"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "C. Pontius Pilatus Propraet"

From "Ecce dolor"
From "Ecce dolor"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Ecce dolor"

From "Pan est bien mort"
From "Pan est bien mort"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Pan est bien mort"

From "Disciples"
From "Disciples"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Disciples"

From "Sur la route"
From "Sur la route"
Georges Rouault
Wood engraving
30 x 20 cm.
From Passion by Andre Suares (Ambroise Vollard, Paris: 1939)

From "Sur la route"

Christ aux bras leves (Plate II)
Christ aux bras leves (Plate II)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
35 x 26 cm.
From Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire (L’Etoile Filante: 1966)

Christ aux bras leves (Plate II)

Christ de face (Plate III)
Christ de face (Plate III)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
35 x 25 cm.
From Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire

Christ de face (Plate III)

Christ de profil (Plate X)
Christ de profil (Plate X)
Georges Rouault
Aquatint
31 x 21 cm.
From Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire (L'Etoile Filante: 1966)

Christ de profil (Plate X)

St. Jean-Baptiste
St. Jean-Baptiste
Georges Rouault
Lithograph (sixth state)
31 x 40 cm.

St. Jean-Baptiste

Sacre Coeur
Sacre Coeur
Georges Rouault
Colored wood engraving
24 x 14 cm.

Sacre Coeur

Crucifixion
Crucifixion
Georges Rouault
Colored wood engraving
28 x 20 cm.
From "Les Peintres mes amis" by Andre Warnod (Les Heures Claires, Paris: 1965)

Crucifixion

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