En Bouche Qui Fut Fraiche Gout de Fiel. In a Mouth which once was Fresh now a Taste of Bitterness. by Georges Rouault, 1871-1958

Georges Rouault, 1871-1958
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En Bouche Qui Fut Fraiche Gout de Fiel. In a Mouth which once was Fresh now a Taste of Bitterness.

Original aquatint over heliogravure with drypoint and burnisher in black ink. 1922. Signed with initials and dated in the plate (no impressions were hand signed). No 15 of the 'Miserere'. Edition of 500 printed by Jacquemin for Rouault 1927. Intended for issue by Vollard c.1930 but in fact first issued 1948 by L'Etoile Filante. Edition of 450 (50 impressions lost).
Ref: Rouault l'Oeuvre Gravé no 68

Excellent richly and dramatic impression. On pale cream wove paper watermarked 'Ambroise Vollard'. Generally excellent condition; the faintest suggestion of time discolouration from a mount. Full margins. Sheet: 25 1/2 x 19 3/4ins. Plate: 19 3/4 x 13 7/8ins (503x352mm)

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Rouault's great large-scale aquatints for the series 'Miserere' are amongst the most powerful and magisterial images in his whole graphic oeuvre, with a visual presence and an intensity of emotional communication which places them in the forefront of European graphic art of the first half of the 20th century.

The images were inspired by Rouault's condemnation of the moral and physical horrors of the First War, and by his condemnation of the bourgeois society in Paris who attempted to ignore the sufferings of the soldiers fighting and even to profit from the social and economic situation. He first began to work on the prints in 1916 - 1918, before partially abandoning the project and returning to it over the years from 1920 to 1927. Initially he intended the series to consist of 100 composition divided into two groups under the titles 'Miserere' and 'Guerre' (War). However by 1927 he had restricted himself to some 63 plates under the one title 'Miserere' so as to emphasise his social and moral message. These were editioned for Vollard, the publisher, in 1927. Vollard in fact never issued the series, and it was not finally published until 1948 when Rouault managed to get back all the editioned prints and the plates from Vollard's estate.