A public reception and gallery talk will be offered for the exhibition, Lines Etched with the Weight of Life: Georges Rouault’s Miserere, on February 10, 2013. This haunting series of 58 sheets, whose title “Have mercy on me, O God” is taken from Psalm 51, is considered a monument in twentieth-century printmaking. This is the first time the series, described as a powerful lamentation of the human condition, has been presented in its entirety.
Considered a monument of twentieth-century printmaking, Georges Rouault’s Miserere, a series of large-scale prints produced using innovative graphic techniques, presents visitors with one of the greatest modernist interpretations of religious iconography. Rouault responded to the ravages of World War I by creating aggressive, sparse, and grand compositions, which attain a pitch of tragedy and salvation rarely achieved by his contemporaries.
The exhibition will run from January 13 through March 10, 2013.
The Miserere series on display was the generous gift of Mr. Leonard Scheller. Research assistance was provided by Kirsten Appleyard, M.A. ’11.