Georges Henri Rouault (1871 – 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman, and printer, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. The series of prints known as the Miserere was commissioned by the Parisian dealer Ambrose Vollard, who after 1916 functioned as the artist's sole agent and employer. More than any other of his print series and illustrations, the Miserere folio conveys the artist's spiritual legacy of faith. The theme of human suffering that connects each single image in the portfolio relates closely to the artist's own spiritual outlook. It simultaneously provides an indictment of the spiritual crisis of Rouault's France, which found it's inception in an age marked by Nietzsche's nihilism, and culminated in a staunchly anti-clerical Republican government and the horrors of World War I. Rouault's work does not aim at criticizing social conditions or at evoking pity, but invites the spectator to join in sharing all aspects of human suffering in order to find salvation and purification. See full text and complete work HERE
