Georges Rouault, French (1871-1958)

Born in Paris. French expressionist artist. First apprenticed to a stained-glass maker, Rouault studied after 1891 under Gustave Moreau . He exhibited several paintings with the fauves in 1905. His sorrowful and bitter delineations of judges, clowns, and prostitutes caused a great stir in Paris. The suffering of Christ was his frequent subject.

His thickly encrusted, powerfully colored images, outlined heavily in black, have the effect of icons and a pattern suggestive of stained glass.

About 1916, Rouault began more than a decade of work for the publisher Vollard. Using a variety of graphic techniques, he executed a series of about 60 prints called Miserere. He continued to paint the themes he had used earlier, but in a more tranquil style. Rouault's works are unequaled in the religious art of our time. Examples of his art can be found in many European and American collections. The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, owns his Three Judges and Christ Mocked by Soldiers.

Bibliography: See catalog by P. Courthion (1962); studies by G. Marchiori (1967), J. B. Kind (1969), J. Maritain (1969), and W. A. Dyrness (1972).