Painter of Faith

Georges Rouault was unsurpassed in his medium. He was on the roster of the great French painting talents who broke into the 20th century in such garish, searing colors that they were called "Wild Beasts," but he stood apart from the rest. In an age given over primarily to secular beliefs, Roman Catholic Rouault was unabashedly a religious man. "I hope to paint a Christ so moving that those who see Him will be converted," he said. He became the greatest religious artist of his century.

Born during the shelling of Paris by the Prussians in 1871, Rouault was early apprenticed to a stained-glass maker, began painting on a religious theme while studying at the Beaux-Arts. He painted sin in the form of prostitutes, evil in the faces of dishonest judges, misery in the eyes of clowns--and finally he depicted faith and goodness in Christ. He expressed himself in paint so thick that at times it seems to glow like stained glass, at other times burns against the black outlines like live coals. Driven by an unremitting artistic conscience, he agonized over some of his paintings for 25 years before he finally considered them finished. Though his greatness is now undenied, he lived in near penury until he was over 40. To gain a minimum of security, he signed an exclusive contract with Art Dealer Ambroise Vollard, agreeing to turn over all of the paintings in his studio for a mere $10,000. After Vollard's death in 1939, Rouault brought suit, recovered some 700 of his own canvases, burned 315 of them as inferior.

In the last decade Rouault's canvases grew brighter, with a new profusion of yellows and greens, as though heaven's trumpets could sound joy as well as fearful contrition. "I have spent my life painting twilights," he said. "I ought to have the right now to paint the dawn." Last week, at his home in Paris, Georges Rouault, 86, died of uremia. During the last six months he had painted hardly at all. Said his daughter Isabelle: "He remained silent, absorbed before the unfinished canvases on the walls of his studio, as though he were seeking a final contact with himself."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.