Qui ne se Grime Pas? Who Does Not have a Painted Face. A Self Portrait. by Georges Rouault, 1871-1958

Georges Rouault, 1871-1958
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Qui ne se Grime Pas? Who Does Not have a Painted Face. A Self Portrait.

Original etching with aquatint and mixed techniques over heliogravure in black ink. 1923. Signed and dated in the plate lower left. (No impressions were pencil signed). No 8 of the series: Miserere. Edition of 500 printed by Jacquemin for Rouault 1923/6. Intended for issue by Vollard c.1930 but not infact issued until 1948 by L'Etoile Filante in an edition of 450 (c.50 impressions had been lost).
Note: Rouault's most important work in etching.
Ref:I.Rouault - Georges Rouault L'Oeuvre Gravé no 61.

Superb rich contrasty impression. On pale cream wove paper watermarked 'Ambroise Vollard'. Generally extremely fine condition; the slightest trace of a mount mark. Full margins; the lower right sheet tip lost. Sheet: 25 1/2 x 19 7/8ins. Plate: 22 3/8 x 17 (565x430mm).

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'Qui ne se Grime Pas - Who does not have a Painted Face' is the key work in Rouault's most important series of prints, the 'Miserere', and it is also the central iconic image of his whole graphic oeuvre. It is a 'spiritual' self-portrait expressing his moral and philosophical ideas in terms of a visual symbol.

'Miserere' was a series of compositions which occupied much of Rouault's time for a long period of his life. The earliest mentions of the theme are in 1912 in a letter; over the following decade the initial idea of a small series of photographs or possibly lithographs was transformed in to a sequence of 58 large format aquatints over heliogravure. However the intellectual concept of the scheme remained in many ways constant. This was a statement of Rouault's attitudes to society, moral standards, and the purpose of life. It was also a statement of Rouault's own personality and beliefs. It was not an optimistic statement for he felt himself beset with disaster and degradation with the only salvation through religion.

In depicting himself as the melancholic clown in 'Qui ne se Grime Pas' he was echoing a symbol used by other artists, such as Picasso. But for Rouault it was an emotional expression of extraordinary intensity. 'Everyone hides himself behind a facade, behind a face concealed with actor's makeup' - this he expressed through his title. In the image the garb of the jester attempts to hide the face of a man who is profoundly beset with doubts about the salvation of a moral society, and about his own personal salvation.