1871-1958. French painter, etcher,
illustrator, and designer. Early in his
career he was associated with the Fauves but
created his own style using heavy, dark
colours and bold brushwork. His subjects
included sad clowns, prostitutes, and evil
lawyers; from about 1940 he painted mainly
religious works. Rouault was born in Paris,
the son of a cabinet-maker. He was
apprenticed to a stained-glass-maker; later
he studied under the Symbolist painter
Gustave Moreau and became curator of Moreau's
studio. The Prostitute 1906 (Musee Nationale
d'Art Moderne, Paris) and The Face of Christ
1933 (Musee des Beaux-Arts, Ghent, Belgium)
represent extremes of Rouault's painting
style. He also produced illustrations and
designed tapestries, stained glass, and sets
for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and in 1948
he published a series of etchings, Miserere.