Roussel, Danse postcard

Born in Moselle in 1867, at age fifteen Roussel studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris; alongside his friend Édouard Vuillard, he also studied at the studio of painter Diogène Maillart. In 1888, he enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts and soon began frequenting the Académie Julian where Maurice Denis and other students formed the group Les Nabis. He drew his subject matter from the area around L'Étang-la-Ville and Saint-Tropez, adapting the scenery to Greek mythological episodes depicting women, children, nymphs, centaurs and fauns. His wife Marie (Vuillard's sister), his daughter Annette, his son Jacques and his grandchildren served as models. Between 1914 and 1917 he was admitted to a clinic, suffering from depression. He produced large numbers of pastels in his final years, between 1930 and 1944, picturing violent death in mythology. Roussel is known for huge paintings of landscapes decorating public spaces, with others commissioned for private clients. In 1912 he painted the front curtain of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and in 1937-9 he created a huge eleven-meter panel in the debating chamber at the Palais des Nations (Palace of Nations) in Geneva. In 1926, Ker-Xavier Roussel won the Carnegie Prize for art. His reputation reached a peak in 1936 with a multi-panel scheme for the Palais de Chaillot. Ker-Xavier Roussel died in 1944 at his home in L'Étang-la-Ville.