George Rouault (1871-1958) was born in a cellar during the 1871 Paris insurrection. His family was forced to seek shelter after a stray shell destroyed their home. His father was a cabinet-maker in a piano factory. His paternal grandfather was a lover of art, an admirer of Manet and Daumier, who hoped the child would become a painter.
Rouault was in his adolescence when he apprenticed to a stained glass maker. This early contact with stained glass influenced his later career as painter and printmaker. At the same time he attended evening classes at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, and studied painting at the Louvre. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Elie Delaunay, who died soon after. He became the favorite pupil and a close friend of Gustave Moreau.
Selected Collections:
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
The Shiodome Museum, Rouault Gallery, Tokyo, Japan