Lot 189
  • 189

Georges Rouault

Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 USD
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Description

  • Georges Rouault
  • L'Asiate, dit aussi Orientale
  • Signed G. Rouault (toward center right); titled (on the reverse of the frame)
  • Oil on cradled panel in painted artist's frame
  • (Including frame): 22 3/8 by 16 7/8 in.
  • 56.8 by 42.8 cm

Provenance

Private Collection, Japan (acquired directly from the artist)
Thence by descent

Literature

Bernard Dorival & Isabelle Rouault, Rouault, L'Oeuvre peint, vol. II, Monte-Carlo, 1988, no. 2454, illustrated p. 257

Condition

This work is in excellent original condition. An exceptionally rich and textured impasto is well-preserved and the work remains in its original frame, hand painted by the artist. There is one pindot loss at the lower center of the liner. Under UV light, numerous original pigments fluoresce but no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

In the present work, Rouault employs an expressive palette that creates a radiant figure whose volumetric stature within the composition heightens her connection to her viewers. Although Rouault was not a formal member of the Fauve movement, he did embrace its primary tenet in his incorporation of an exaggerated palette. As Edward Alden Jewells notes, “Though not 'officially' a Fauve, Rouault showed with the group and became popularly identified with it. Like that of the Fauves, Rouault's was in those days an art of violent expressionism. And like theirs it represented a revolt against the stuffy academic standards of the day. But Rouault also walked apart. For one thing, he differed from the Fauves in that his art of that period was not decorative. Instead, it was passionately dedicated, as the art of the Fauves in the main was not, to pregnant social issues" (Edward A. Jewell, Rouault, London, 1947, p. 8).

The figure's intense connection to the viewer is further emphasized through a combination of rapid, energetic brushwork and Rouault's characteristic build-up of paint, creating a three-dimensionality that identifies Rouault’s strongest oeuvre. Rouault gave this figure even greater vivacity by painting the frame itself with the same color array and decorative scheme that adorned his figure, thereby making her presence one that extends beyond the confines of her panel. Pierre Courthion aptly writes, "When we examine a Rouault, what strikes us first? Above all, the way the paint has been applied: very thickly and with passion, with great sureness, and with spontaneity... the thickly applied pigment achieves a hitherto unknown degree of energy; every form seems to flow directly from the artist's hand into our own sensibility" (Pierre Courthion, Georges Rouault, New York, 1961, p. 234).