Georges ROUAULT (Paris 1871-1958) ARLEQUIN, (HARMONIE... Lot 30

Georges ROUAULT (Paris 1871-1958) ARLEQUIN, (HARMONIE ROSE), 1948-1952 Oil on canvas 40.7 x 31.8 cm Certificate from the Georges Rouault Foundation indicating that the painting will be listed on the occasion of one of the updates of the complete catalogue of works. Georges Rouault (1871-1958) is a French painter and engraver. The son of a cabinetmaker, he first trained as a stained glass painter. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1891 and became the favourite pupil of Gustave Moreau, whose death would profoundly affect him. A period of aesthetic crisis ensued, during which he developed a painting with lyrical accents caricaturing his contemporaries of courtrooms painting ironically, judges, clowns and prostitutes. Impulsive and passionate, Rouault never claimed to belong to any movement. His appointment as curator of the Gustave Moreau Museum in 1902 gave him independence in his work. In 1903, he founded the Salon d'Automne with his friends Matisse and Marquet. Recognition did not come until 1917, when the art dealer Ambroise Vollard bought his entire studio (770 works) from him and commissioned engravings for numerous publications: the Père Ubu, the Fleurs du Mal, Misere, to the point that engraving supplanted his painting for a time and profoundly influenced his style towards a synthesis of forms. A fervent Catholic, Rouault develops religious themes but in reality all his painting is imbued with the Sacred, in particular his portraits, in which he searches for the face of Christ like our Harlequin whose hieratic character and impassivity participate in this quest. After 1930, the artist remains faithful to the end of the circus and commedia dell'Arte However, most often a single figure appears framed at the head or bust. These are works of an intimate nature where the accessory has disappeared to make way for the grandeur of fantasy and smile. In our painting, the artist excels in expressing the inner intensity of the model