In 1893, Frenchman Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) opened an avant-garde art gallery in Paris’ influential Rue Lafitte. His first exhibition, in 1895, included nearly 150 paintings by Paul Cezanne and was followed by exhibitions of Edward Manet, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent Van Gogh. He went on to hold Pablo Picasso’s first exhibition in 1901 as well as Henri Matisse’s in 1904. He was also the sole representative and employer for Georges Rouault (1871-1958). Rouault’s early apprenticeship in stained glass, which employed heavy borders to frame brightly colored images, was readily adapted into his own style which was exhibited throughout his lifetime. Along with Matisse and Andre Derain, he helped form the short lived Fauvist movement, which used wild strokes of vivid, bold colors to express their work. In 1916, Vollard commissioned him to produce a series of prints known as Miserere et Guerre (Misery and War) in two volumes of 50 prints each. The poet Andre Suares (1866-1948) was to have produced the text, however the project was never completed when Suares quit the project and advised Rouault to do the same. At the time, Vollard rarely offered any of Rouault’s work to the public and kept most of his work to himself thereby limiting Rouault’s exposure. The unprecedented horrors of World War I, along with Rouault’s compassion for the underprivileged and marginalized, were combined with his profound Catholic faith to produce this monumental work. The images were originally drawn as sketches in ink before they were painted and subsequently photographed and transferred onto copper plates for printing. Rouault used almost every known intaglio (typically etching or engraving) technique up to 15 times on each image before he was satisfied each piece was technically as good as the rest. By 1928, 65 images were completed. All of the images were printed in an addition of 450 prints in 1928, however the prints were never released by Vollard. When Vollard died in an automobile crass in 1939, Rouault sued the estate for possession of his artworks. At the time of his death, Vollard had more than 10,000 paintings from various artists in his estate which he was trying to hide from the German Army. Rouault finally won in court and 58 of his images, printed 20 years earlier, were finally published by Editions de I’Etoile in Paris. The edition in its entirety is unquestionably the most monumental religious artistic accomplishment of the 20th century. This original aquatint with drypoint, scraper, roulette, and burnisher, titled, “In these dark times of vainglory and unbelief, Our Lady of the Ends of the Earth keeps watch.”, is one of an edition of 450 prints and is signed in the plate and dated 1927. There are no known hand signed prints. It is plate LVI of Rouault’s monumental two part series, Miserere et Guerre, an etching with aquatint. Titled, Our Lady of the Ends of the Earth keeps watch. This series was never completed in its original intent, but is considered one of the most important graphic works of the 20th century. The only printing, done 20 years after the plates were produced, was produced by Editions de I’Etoile in Paris and was limited to 450 images. 22.8 x 14.8 inches