Georges Rouault
Des Ongles et Du Bec (abstract female portrait)
1948

Name: Des Ongles et Du Bec (abstract female portrait)
Brand: Georges Rouault
Price: 1350 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Artist Georges Rouault (1871, France - 1958, France) Main title "Des ongles et du bec" Etching and aquatint on wove paper. Creation date 1926 / 1948 Publisher: Etoile Filante, Paris Is part of the set: Miserere Portfolio (Dissociable set of artworks). Portfolio of one hundred and twenty-four elements including fifty-eight plates in a box. Canvas casing with a copper clasp and text printed on the edge. 1948 Etching and aquatint on wove paper. 25 3/5 × 19 9/10 inches (plate) 25.2 x 30.2 inches framed Techniques Eau-forte et aquatinte sur papier vélin d'Arches Edition of 450 prints, belonging to the suite “Miserere”, considered as the most important religious graphic work of XX century. The single prints, realized with a sophisticated mixed technique, were designed between 1916 and 1927, and finally published as a suite in 1948. Vintage water gilt gold leaf frame produced by Brentano's, NYC. The artist's preface to the complete portfolio set reads as follows: Preface by Georges Rouault, 1948 “I dedicate this work to my master, Gustave Moreau, and to my valiant and beloved mother who with unstinting patience watched over and aided my early efforts when I wandered at the crossroads, an ill-equipped young pilgrim of art. Let me add that both, in their own way, were endowed with the same smiling and encouraging nature, seldom found in these times of bitterness and offense in which we seem to live today. Most of the subjects date from 1914-1918. They were first executed in the form of drawings in India ink, and later transformed into paintings in at the request of Ambroise Vollard. He then had all the subjects transferred on to copper. It was desirable, apparently, that the copper should first receive the impression of my drawing. From that point on, I painstakingly tried to preserve the initial rhythm and draughtsmanship. On each plate, more or less felicitously, without ceasing or pausing, I worked with different tools; there is no secret about my methods. Never satisfied, I resumed each subject endlessly, sometimes in as many as twelve or fifteen successive states; I should have liked them all to be of equal quality. I readily admit that I became attached to them, and that I was not insensitive to the desire of an American ambassador who wished to have some of the copper plates plated with gold and set in the wall at the embassy. The impressions, which I carefully supervised, were completed in 1927, and later Ambroise Vollard had the plates cancelled. After waiting twenty long years for their publication, which was delayed for various circumstances, I was fortunate enough to recover the engravings in 1947, and entrusted their publication to the Etoile Filante in Paris. It was planned that Andre Suares should write an accompanying text, unfortunately he was unable to do so. The death of Ambroise Vollard, the war, the occupation and its consequences, and finally my lawsuit were all the causes of indefinite delay. Though ever hopeful, there have been dark times when I despaired that these engravings, to which I have always attached a great significance, would ever be published. I rejoice that this has come to pass before I vanish from this planet. If injustice has been shown toward Ambroise Vollard, let us agree that he had taste and a passion for making beautiful books, regardless of time; but it would have taken three centuries to complete the various works and paintings with which, in utter disregard of earthly limitations, he wished to burden the pilgrim. Form, color, harmony Oasis or mirage For the eyes, the heart, and the spirit Toward the moving ocean of pictorial appeal “Tomorrow will be beautiful,” said the shipwrecked man Before he disappeared beneath the sullen horizon Peace seems never to reign Over this anguished world Of shams and shadows Jesus on the cross will tell you better than I Jeanne in her brief and sublime replies at her trial As well as other saints and martyrs Obscure or consecrated Paris 1948 Georges Rouault”

Creator:

Georges Rouault (1871-1958, French)

Creation Year:

1948

Dimensions:

Height: 30.2 in (76.71 cm)Width: 25.2 in (64.01 cm)Depth: 1.25 in (3.18 cm)

Medium:

Etching,Aquatint

Movement & Style:

Abstract

Period:

Mid-20th Century