Product Description

A unique and rare insight into a major body of work of the modern print-makers art, and a vital part of Georges Rouault's oeuvre

Presents one of the very few remaining intact series showing all 58 plates from the Miserere out of the 450 editions originally printed in 1948

Georges Rouault's Miserere print series, originally titled Miserere et Guerre ("Have mercy," a quotation from Psalm 51, and "War") was initially commissioned in 1914, but remained unpublished until 1948, by which time Rouault had witnessed the immense destruction of World Wars I and II, and with them, the complete transformation of the European landscape. This Anguished World of Shadows: Georges Rouault's Miserere et Guerre presents all fifty-eight prints from the series, offering a close look at this artist's poignant commentary on the hardships of war and the promise of redemption. Rendered with thick black outlines and diffused gray tonalities that evoke the smoke and darkness of a world destroyed, the Miserere prints simultaneously have the luminescence of stained glass, hinting of light breaking through darkness. While somber, the prints also carry the message of hope for renewal and rebirth, for as Rouault knew well, behind every shadow is a source of light.

Only a limited number of the original 450 edition of the Miserere remain intact. The series was featured in the exhibition, This Anguished World of Shadows, at the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA) in New York City in March 2006, thanks to a generous loan from a private collector. This new color catalogue features over seventy images, including all fifty-eight plates from the Miserere series. The MOBIA curatorial staff have written contributed essays; among them is one on Rouault's printmaking techniques by Dolores DeStefano and art historian Soo Yun Kang, Associate Professor of Art History at Chicago State University, has written the main essay, a study of Rouault's unique perspective on life and suffering.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #802627 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages