Georges Rouault
Overview
 
Georges Henri Rouault[p] (27 May 1871 – 13 February 1958) was a French Fauvist
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...

 and Expressionist
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...

 painter, and printmaker in lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

 and etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...

.
Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family. His mother encouraged his love for the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, 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
Leaded glass
Leaded glass may refer to:*Lead glass, potassium silicate glass which has been impregnated with a small amount of lead oxide in its fabrication...

, which characterize Rouault's mature painting style.
Quotations

Like the ostrich, head under wing When the roaring storm breaks, So many people take refuge Under the soft pillow Of specious arguments.

Le Cirque de l'étoile filante. (1938)

A painter who loves his art must be careful not to see too much of critics and men of letters. These gentlemen, however unconsciously, distort everything, thinking that they are explaining it—the artist's thought, sensibility, and intensions. They take away his strength, just as Delilah took away Samson's. They have no gift for nuances, and they have an instinctive aversion for everything that is beyond their reach and baffles them.

Soliloques. (1944)

Nothing is old, nothing is new, save the light of grace underneath which beats a human heart. The way of feeling, of understanding, of loving; the way of seeing the country, the faces that your father saw, that your mother knew. The rest is chimerical..."

Soliloques. (1944)

Often pagans, with their eyes wide open, do not see very clearly.

Quoted in Lionello Venturi, Rouault. New York. 19. (1947)

The richness of the world, all artificial pleasures, have the taste of sickness and give off a smell of death in the face of certain spiritual possessions.

Stella Vespertina. (1947)

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

Stella Vespertina. (1947)

The conscience of an artist worthy of the name is like an incurable disease which causes him endless torment but occasionally fills him with silent joy...

Stella Vespertina. (1947)

The painter who loves his art is ruler in his own kingdom, even if he be in Lilliput and a Lilliputian himself. He transforms a kitchen maid in to a fairy, and a great lady into a brothel matron, if he wants to and sees them so, for he is a seer. His vision includes everything that is alive in the past.

Stella Vespertina. (1947)

The old masters are perfect and admirable examples, on condition that we remember that the spirit gives life and the letter kills, and that even the best pastiche is inferior to the harmonious stammering or incoherence of a child trying to speak.

Stella Vespertina. (1947)

 
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