乔治·鲁奥《聪明的小丑》（Le Pierrot sage，纽约佳士得2008.11）

乔治·鲁奥聪明的小丑 LePierrot sage 纽约佳士得2008.11 成交价86.65万美元

作品介绍

Circus performers and the characters of the commedia dell'arteremained Rouault's most frequent subjects throughout his career. Inthe romantic melancholy of Pierrot, the archetypal sad andself-effacing clown, the artist found a touchstone for the humancondition and a mirror that reflected the vast parade of life.Removed from his personal preoccupation with the spectacle ofperformance, Le Pierrot sage here sits in pensive introspection, ashe turns the pages of a book. He evokes what was for Rouault both auniversal pathos and, as was also the case in the work of the youngPicasso, a profoundly intimate self-portrait: "I have seen clearlythat the 'clown' was I, was us, almost all of us...We are allclowns to a greater or lesser extent...Who would then dare say thathe has not been overwhelmed, down to the pit of his stomach, by animmense pity?" (quoted in F. Hergott, Rouault, Barcelona, 1992, p.15).

乔治·鲁奥聪明的小丑 LePierrot sage 局部

A compassionate figure, Le Pierrot sage engages in meditativestudy, his head lowered and eyes veiled. The vulnerable dispositionof his bowed figure recalls Rouault's many images of a sufferingChrist; it has been suggested that the small, open book resting onhis lap is perhaps a Bible, whose message that through sufferingone finds a path to God resonated deeply with Rouault's Christianfaith. Indeed, the noble sanctity of this wise Pierrot evokes anauspicious soul, one whose philosophical outlook and serenitymatched the artist's own, newfound peace in the mid-1940s. "I spentmy life painting twilights," Rouault reflected at the time. "Iought to have the right now to paint the dawn" (quoted in J. T.Soby, Georges Rouault: Paintings and Prints, exh. cat., The Museumof Modern Art, New York, 1945, p. 28).

乔治·鲁奥聪明的小丑 LePierrot sage 局部

The heavily encrusted surface in La Pierrot sage ischaracteristic of Rouault's lyrical, mature style and projects bothspiritual gravitas and the very weight and substance of worldlyexistence. Thick, black contours set off the figure's forms againsta radiant and richly textured cerulean background. Rouault workedpredominantly in blues in the 1940s, as he concentrated hispictorial effects and handled his paints with increased density;here the rich color continues seamlessly into the framed paintingof the clown behind him and into the open sky beyond the window.The artist's adept handling of light recalls the effects of stainedglass, which he studied as a young apprentice; as Soby suggests,Rouault may have absorbed the coloristic influences of Byzantineenamels, Roman mosaics and Coptic tapestries into his late work aswell. The warm harmonies of Le Pierrot sage are a testament toRouault's mastery of spiritual and emotional color and suggest theartist's graceful acquiescence to the "ideal of art for its ownsake," which his early figures so powerfully repudiated, in theserenity of his later years (in op. cit., p. 26). This new softnessis confirmed by the wise Pierrot, whose "contemplation and happysadness make one think of such figures painted by Corot for his ownpleasure in the latter days of his life" (in B. Dorival, "Rouault,Paintings 1929-1956," L'oeuvre peint, Monte-Carlo, 1988, p.20).

作品细节

乔治·鲁奥聪明的小丑 Le Pierrot sage 局部

乔治·鲁奥聪明的小丑 LePierrot sage 局部

画家简介

乔治·鲁奥（GeorgesRouault，1871–1958），法国画家，雕塑家，世界上最着名的宗教画家、最杰出的现代版画家之一。他在作品中用强烈的色彩和扭曲的线条描绘人类的痛苦，这些感情激烈的作品使他成为一位艺术大师。他还因非传统的版画复制技术而闻名。

乔治·鲁奥同亨利·马蒂斯一样同出古斯塔夫·莫罗门下，是莫罗最喜爱的学生。在莫罗工作室学习期间，鲁奥的绘画受到莫罗极大的影响。在莫罗去世之后，鲁奥在1901年到利居热结识了若里斯·卡尔·于斯曼，对他今后对巴黎生活景象的关注起到了重要作用。他开始放弃莫罗影响他的所有神话与宗教题材，转而用自然主义的传统来关注巴黎日常生活中的片段。鲁奥在1902年重返巴黎后能够近距离观察巴黎人的生活景象，尤其是那些终日忙碌奔波者的面貌，正如他女儿热纳维耶芙所言，鲁奥的毕生都在作品中回忆与描绘这些景象。

作品资料

Le Pierrot sage

成交总额

USD 866,500

估价

USD 500,000 - USD 700,000

signed 'G Rouault' (center right); titled 'Pierrot sage' (onthe stretcher)

oil on paper laid down on canvas

29½ x 22¼ in. (75 x 56.5 cm.)

Painted in 1943

拍卖 2256

The Modern Age: The Hillman Family Collection

纽约|2008年11月5日

拍品 17

来源

Galerie Louis Carré, Paris.

Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York.

Acquired from the above by the late owner, November1949.

展览历史

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel et Cie., 1949.

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Georges Rouault,July-October 1952, p. 30, no. 71 (illustrated, pl. XIV).

Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts and The Hague, MunicipalMuseum, Georges Rouault, Rétrospective, 1952, p. 55, no. 51(illustrated, pl. 43).

New York, The Museum of Modern Art; The Cleveland Museum ofArt and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rouault, retrospectiveexhibition, 1953, p. 29.

New York University, The Grey Art Gallery, Georges Rouault,April-May 1981.