GEORGES ROUAULT (1871-1958)

Details

GEORGES ROUAULT (1871-1958)

Bouquet de fleurs

signed lower left 'G. Rouault'--oil on joined paper laid down by the artist on canvas
35 x 23 5/8 in. (89 x 60 cm.)
Painted circa 1938

Provenance

Valentine Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph F. Colin on Feb. 11, 1941

Literature

L. Venturi, Georges Rouault, New York, 1940, pl. 147 (illustrated)
J. Maritain, Georges Rouault, New York, 1952 (illustrated in color, pl. 21)
W. Sargeant, "Rouault: Great Mystic Paints Good Friday but never Easter," Life, Feb. 2, 1953 (illustrated in color, p. 61)
J. Maritain, Georges Rouault, New York, 1954, pl. 35 (illustrated in color, p. 61)

Exhibited

New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints, April-June, 1945, no. 77 (illustrated, p. 89)
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Summer Loan Show, July-Aug., 1950
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Selections from Five New York Private Collections, June-Sept., 1951
Cleveland, Museum of Art, Works of Georges Rouault, Jan.-March, 1953, p. 29. The exhibition traveled to New York, The Museum of Modern Art, March-May, 1953 and Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, July-Aug., 1953, p. 31.
Milan, Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Mostra di Georges Rouault, April-June, 1954, p. 16, no. 49
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., The Colin Collection, April-May, 1960, no. 29 (illustrated)
Philadelphia, Museum of Art, A World of Flowers, Paintings and Prints, May-June, 1963 (illustrated, p. 161)

Lot Essay

Isabelle Rouault will include this painting in the forthcoming supplement to her Rouault catalogue raisonné.

In the early 1930s Madame Cuttoli asked Georges Rouault to work on a series of floral still lifes which she intended to use as cartoons for tapestries. Approximately thirty canvases were painted by the artist and about ten tapestries were woven by the Aubusson craftsmen between 1930 and 1937.

The artist executed this series of Fleurs décoratives using a bright palette and framing the composition with important borders in respect to the traditional style of tapestries.