Many readers of Commonweal are familiar with the great twentieth-century Catholic painter, Georges Rouault -- the contemporary of Matisse and Picasso whose oeuvre combined elements of medieval stained glass and highly modern, Fauvist art. A search of this blog will turn up four references in just the last couple years.But I wanted to draw your attention to an unusual exhibition that puts Rouault's work in an interesting context.Starting today at the Dillon Gallery in New York (555 West 25^th Street), you can take in "Georges Rouault / Makoto Fujimuira: Soliloquies," which pairs the French artist's work with that of a contemporary Japanese-American painter.Fujimura, an evangelical, paints in the ancient Japanese Nihonga tradition, which uses crushed minerals. His work is abstract and semi-abstract and the pieces in this exhibition are part of a series he did in deliberate homage to Rouault.To my eye, the dialogue between the two artists (visual and spiritual) is enriching and evocative. I hope you'll get down to the Dillon Gallery to see it for yourself.[caption id="attachment_5368" align="alignleft" width="24" caption="Georges Roualt, Automne"][/caption][caption id="attachment_5371" align="alignright" width="239" caption="Makoto Fujimura, Soliloquies: Grace"][/caption]