Georges Rouault (1871-1958) French, Etching Print "Christ Among the Poor." Black-and-white print depicts Christ moving through a town surrounded by followers with minarets in the background. Signature and date 1935 in print bottom left. Arnold Klein Gallery label on back, with handwritten information about care for the plexiglass cover written in pen above. 

Overall Size: 20 x 16 in. 

Sight Size: 12 1/2 x 9 in. 

Georges-Henri Rouault (1871-1958) was born into a poor Parisian family, and entered a five-year apprenticeship as a glass painter and restorer in 1885 while attending evening classes at the School of Fine Arts. In 1891 he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts, studying under Gustave Moreau, who became his mentor and inspired Rouault’s early use of symbolic color, leading him to win awards and develop friendships with Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and others who connected him to Fauvism. His work evolved to explore moral and social criticism through series depicting courts, clowns, and prostitutes, influenced by Spiritualism and the philosopher Jacques Maritain, and Rouault increasingly incorporated Christian motifs, devoting himself fully to painting after World War I. In 1929 he designed Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet The Prodigal Son, leading to international exhibitions in London, New York, and Chicago, but the trauma of World War II and a mid-1950s cancer diagnosis prompted him to destroy about 300 unfinished works before he died in 1958. Interest in his oeuvre resurged decades later when his daughter Genevieve published a comprehensive biography with previously lost illustrations, securing his legacy in 20th Century art.

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