Jongleur 1924 - 1927

Here we see Rouault’s ‘Jongleur’ with all of its etched lines creating shadow and light in equal measure. You can really feel the printing process here, with all the inky tones and textures, where every mark is an event in itself. The figure of the Jongleur is rendered in stark monochrome, a lone spotlight illuminating his upturned face and awkward pose. I keep coming back to the hands, raised high like he is carrying something or perhaps pleading. There is a tension between the lightness of the figure and the deep almost claustrophobic darkness that threatens to engulf him. Rouault worked a lot with printmaking techniques, and you can see a similar handling of light and dark in the work of Francisco Goya, another artist who wasn’t afraid to look at the darker side of life. Ultimately though Rouault’s Jongleur remains mysterious and invites us to project our own feelings onto it.