The Cross in Modern Visual Art

This chapter looks at treatments of the cross in “fixed” images: painting and drawing, sculpture, and photography. The first part examines the cross in its traditional religious setting. Among the major artists covered are Maurice Denis, Georges Rouault, and Salvador Dalí. The second part surveys the use of the cross in secular settings. The crucifixion of Jesus here becomes a metaphor for the unjust sufferings of others: humanity in general; the artist; the Jewish people; persecuted groups like women or blacks; victims of political and social injustice; those oppressed by the church. The crucifixion also becomes an established artistic genre, without a particular message.

Georges Rouault and the Rhetoric of Expressionism

Endorsing the artist's statements, Georges Rouault's admirers have repeated and helped sustain the myth of the painter as an isolated, solitary genius. Although there are many points of intersection between Rouault's work and German Expressionism (an emphasis on process and visual distortion, thematic affinities such as religious imagery, a fascination with self-portraiture, as well as with clowns and prostitutes), any potential connection with this movement has either been ignored or cursorily mentioned in the literature. This essay will explore the extent and depth of this relationship, as well as provide a critical assessment of the strikingly similar rhetorical strategies Rouault and the Expressionists employed to valorize their work.