Gargantua: Le peintre du Roi (a la R.)
probably 1942
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
woodcut
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1964.8.1962
Art Historical Context
**Gargantua: Le peintre du Roi (a R.)** is a striking woodcut by Bernard Reder, likely created in 1942. Reder, a Polish-born artist who emigrated to the United States the 1930s, was known for his bold, expressionistic prints and sculptures infused with mythic and humanistic themes. This work belongs to a portfolio classification, part of the renowned Rosenwald Collection at the Gallery of Art, highlighting mid-20th-century graphic arts. The title evokes Rabelais' satirical giant Gargantua, with "Le peintre du (a la R.)"—French for "The King's Painter (à la R[abelais?])"—suggesting a playful y...
About the Artist
Bernard Reder
Bernard Reder (1897–1963), born in Czernowitz, Bukovina—then part of Austria-Hungary and a vibrant center of Jewish and Hasidic culture—was the son of a Jewish innkeeper. At age four, he began drawing, but World War I interrupted his youth when, at 17, he was conscripted into the Austrian army and served in the trenches. After the war, Reder enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, studying...