Odilon Redon - Trees on a yellow Background - Google Art Project

Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

painter, printmaker,

draughtsman A draughtsman (British spelling) or draftsman (American spelling) may refer to: * An architectural drafter, who produced architectural drawings until the late 20th century * An artist who produces drawings that rival or surpass their other types ...

and

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

list. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he worked almost exclusively in

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

and

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

, works referred to as ''noirs''. He started gaining recognition after his drawings were mentioned in the 1884 novel ''

À rebours ''À rebours'' (; translated ''Against Nature'' or ''Against the Grain'') is an 1884 novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans. The narrative centers on a single character: Jean des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusive, ailing aesthete. The l ...

'' (''Against Nature'') by

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel ''À rebou ...

. During the 1890s he began working in

and

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, which quickly became his favourite medium, abandoning his previous style of ''noirs'' completely after 1900. He also developed a keen interest in

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

religion and culture, which increasingly showed in his work. He is perhaps best known today for the "dreamlike" paintings created in the first decade of the 20th century, which were heavily inspired by

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...

and which, while continuing to take inspiration from nature, heavily flirted with

abstraction Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or "concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods. "An abstr ...

. His work is considered a precursor to both

Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Paris ...

and

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

Early life

Odilon Redon was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...

, to a prosperous family. Redon's father made his fortune in the slave trade in Louisiana in the 1830s. Redon was conceived in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and the couple made the transatlantic journey back to France while his mother Marie Guérin, a French Creole woman, was pregnant with his brother Gaston. The young Bertrand Redon acquired the nickname "Odilon" from his mother's first name, Odile. Redon started drawing as a child; at the age of ten, he was awarded a drawing prize at school. He began the formal study of drawing at fifteen but, at his father's insistence, he changed to architecture. Failure to pass the entrance exams at Paris’

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

ended any plans for a career as an architect, although he briefly studied painting there under

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

in 1864. (His younger brother

Gaston Redon Gaston Redon (28 October 1853 – 20 November 1921) was a French architect, teacher, and graphic artist. Biography Redon was born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine to a prosperous family, the younger brother of Odilon Redon. Gaston attended the Éco ...

would become a noted architect.) Back in his native Bordeaux, he took up sculpting, and

Rodolphe Bresdin Rodolphe Bresdin was a French draughtsman and engraver, born in Le Fresne-sur-Loire on 12 August 1822, who died in Sèvres on 11 January 1885. His fantastic works, full of strange details, particularly attracted Charles Baudelaire, Théophile G ...

instructed him in

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and

. His artistic career was interrupted in 1870 when he was drafted to serve in the army in the Franco-Prussian War until its end in 1871.

Career

At the end of the war, he moved to Paris and resumed working almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography. He called his visionary works, conceived in shades of black, his ''noirs''. It was not until 1878 that his work gained any recognition with ''Guardian Spirit of the Waters''; he published his first album of lithographs, titled ''Dans le Rêve'', in 1879. Still, Redon remained relatively unknown until the appearance in 1884 of a cult novel by

titled ''

'' (''Against Nature''). The story featured a decadent aristocrat who collected Redon's drawings. In the 1890s, pastel and oils became his favored media; he produced no more ''noirs'' after 1900. In 1899, he exhibited with the

Nabis Nabis ( grc-gre, Νάβις) was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous "War against Nabis" ...

Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

's. Redon had a keen interest in

and

religion and culture. The figure of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

increasingly showed in his work. Influences of

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

blended into his art, such as the painting ''The Death of the Buddha'' around 1899, ''The Buddha'' in 1906, ''Jacob and the Angel'' in 1905, and ''Vase with Japanese warrior'' in 1905, amongst many others. Baron Robert de Domecy (1867–1946) commissioned the artist in 1899 to create 17 decorative panels for the dining room of the Château de Domecy-sur-le-Vault near Sermizelles in

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. Redon had created large decorative works for private residences in the past, but his compositions for the château de Domecy in 1900–1901 were his most radical compositions to that point and mark the transition from ornamental to abstract painting. The landscape details do not show a specific place or space. Only details of trees, twigs with leaves, and budding flowers in an endless horizon can be seen. The colours used are mostly yellow, grey, brown and light blue. The influence of the Japanese painting style found on folding screens, ''

byōbu are Japanese folding screens made from several joined panels, bearing decorative painting and calligraphy, used to separate interiors and enclose private spaces, among other uses. History are thought to have originated in Han dynasty C ...

'', is discernible in his choice of colours and the rectangular proportions of most of the up to 2.5 metres high panels. Fifteen of them are located today in the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, acquired in 1988. Domecy also commissioned Redon to paint portraits of his wife and their daughter Jeanne, two of which are in the collections of the Musée d'Orsay and the

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fe ...

in California. Most of the paintings remained in the Domecy family collection until the 1960s.

Awards

In 1903 Redon was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. His popularity increased when a catalogue of etchings and lithographs was published by André Mellerio in 1913; that same year, he was given the largest single representation at the groundbreaking US International Exhibition of Modern Art (aka

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was a show organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of ...

), in New York City, Chicago and Boston.

Personal life

At 40, Redon married Camille Falte, a young Creole from Île Bourbon. They had a son, Arï Redon (30 April 1889 – 13 May 1972 in Paris). A visual artist himself, and subject of his father's portraiture as a child, Arï's partner was Suzanne Redon.

Death

Redon died on 6 July 1916.

Legacy

His choice of colour and subject matter in the second part of his career lead to Redon being considered a precursor to

and

. According to Surrealist

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brussel ...

, his use of excessively bright colours in his flower pastels, as well as his choice of depicting uncommon or imaginary species renders his works "released from stylized naturalism", thus demonstrating the "endless possibilities of lyrical chromatics". In 1923 Mellerio published ''Odilon Redon: Peintre Dessinateur et Graveur''. An archive of Mellerio's papers is held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

Modern exhibitions

In 2005 the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

launched an exhibition entitled "Beyond The Visible", a comprehensive overview of Redon's work showcasing more than 100 paintings, drawings, prints and books from The

Ian Woodner Family Collection Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

. The exhibition ran from 30 October 2005 to 23 January 2006. In 2007, the

Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt The Schirn Kunsthalle is a Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, located in the old city between the Römer and the Frankfurt Cathedral. The Schirn exhibits both modern and contemporary art. It is the main venue for temporary art exhibitions in Fr ...

presented the exhibition "As in a Dream" with a survey of Redon's work with more than 200 drawings, lithographs, pastels, and paintings. The

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

in Paris, France featured a vast exhibition of Redon's art from March to June 2011 The

Fondation Beyeler The Beyeler Foundation or Fondation Beyeler with its museum in Riehen, near Basel ( Switzerland), owns and oversees the art collection of Hildy and Ernst Beyeler, which features modern and traditional art. The Beyeler Foundation museum includes a ...

in Basel, Switzerland showed a retrospective from February to May 2014. The

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of her ...

Otterlo Otterlo is a village in the municipality of Ede of province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, in or near the Nationaal Park De Hoge Veluwe. The Kröller-Müller Museum, named after Helene Kröller-Müller, is situated nearby and has the world's ...

, The Netherlands, had an exhibition with an emphasis on the role that literature and music played in Redon's life and work, under the title ''La littérature et la musique''. The exhibition ran from 2 June to 9 September 2018.

Analysis of his work

During his early years as an artist, Redon's works were described as "a synthesis of nightmares and dreams", as they contained dark, fantastical figures from the artist's own imagination. His work represents an exploration of his internal feelings and psyche. He himself wanted to place "the logic of the visible at the service of the invisible". A telling source of Redon's inspiration and the forces behind his works can be found in his journal ''A Soi-même'' (''To Myself''). Of his process he wrote: The mystery and evocativeness of Redon's drawings are described by

in the following passage from the novel ''

'' (1884): The art historian Michael Gibson says that Redon began to want his works, even the ones darker in colour and subject matter, to portray "the triumph of light over darkness." Redon described his work as ambiguous and undefinable: Redon was the inspiration for

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

's 1995 short film '' Odilon Redon, or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity''.William Beard, ''Into the Past: The Cinema of Guy Maddin''.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

, 2010. . pp. 363–365.

Gallery

File:OdilonRedon-The Chariot of Apollo.png, The Chariot of Apollo, 1909 (

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux is the fine arts museum of the city of Bordeaux, France. The museum is housed in a dependency of the Palais Rohan in central Bordeaux. Its collections include paintings, sculptures and drawings from the 15t ...

) File:Reflection, 1900-1905.jpg, Reflection, 1900–1905 File:Redon - Saint Sébastien, vers 1910.jpg, Saint Sébastien, 1910 (

) File:WLA moma Odilon Redon Apparition.jpg, Apparition, 1905 File:Odilon Redon - Caliban - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Caliban'', 1881 (

) File:Redon spirit-waters.jpg, ''Guardian Spirit of the Waters'', 1878 (

) File:Odilon Redon - The Trees - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Trees'', c. 1890s (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) File:Odilon Redon - 'Lady of the Flowers', oil on canvas, c. 1890-95.JPG, ''Lady of the Flowers'', c. 1890–1895 (

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...

) File:16 sep 13 redon morgat.jpg, ''The Port of Morgat'', 1882,

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

File:Odilon Redon - The Cyclops, c. 1914.jpg, '' The Cyclops'', 1914 (

) File:Redon.ophelia.jpg, ''Ophelia'', 1900–1905 (Dian Woodner Collection) File:Odilon Redon - Baroness Robert de Domecy - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

Robert de Domecy'', 1900 (Musée d'Orsay) File:1900, Redon, Odilon, Vase of Flowers.jpg, ''Vase of Flowers'', c. 1900–1910, (

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

) File:Odilon Redon - Flower Clouds - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Flower Clouds'', 1903 (

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

) File:Redon.bouddha.jpg, ''The Buddha'', 1904 (Musée d'Orsay) File:16 sep 13 redon.jpg, ''Initiation to Study: Two Young Ladies'' (c. 1905)

, oil on canvas 93 × 65 cm File:Redon, Odilon, Apparition, 1905-10.jpg, ''Apparition'', 1905–1910, (Princeton University Art Museum) File:Odilon Redon 005.jpg, ''Flowers'', 1909 File:Odilon Redon - Der Wagen des Apolls.jpg, ''Chariot of Apollo'', c. 1910 (Musée d'Orsay) File:Odilon Redon 003.jpg, ''Portrait of Violette Heymann'', 1910 (

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

) File:Saint Sebastian by Odilon Redon.JPG, ''Saint Sebastian'', 1910–1912, (

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

) File:Redon.coquille.jpg, ''Coquille'', 1912 (Musée d'Orsay) File:1914 Odilon Redon Pandora anagoria.JPG, ''Pandora'', c. 1914 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) File:Evocation Odilon Redon.jpeg, ''Evocation'', undated, private collection File:Odilon Redon Les Anemones MIA 20163358.jpg, ''Les Anemones'' (''Still Life with Anemones''), c. 1900–1910 (

Minneapolis Institute of Art The Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) is an arts museum located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Home to more than 90,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history, Mia is one of the largest art museums in the United State ...

) File:Odilon Redon, Maurice Denis, 1903, NGA 45844.jpg, alt=Portrait of the artist Maurice Denis created as a lithograph by Odilon Redon, from the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC., Odilon Redon, ''Maurice Denis'', 1903. Lithograph. National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection, 1958.8.198 File:Redon cactus-man.jpg, ''Cactus Man'', c. 1882, Charcoal on paper, The Ian Woodner Family Collection

References

Bibliography

* Russell T. Clement, ''Four French Symbolists: A Sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis,'' Greenwood Press, 1996, & *Jodi Hauptman and Marina Van Zuylen, ''Beyond the Visible: The Art of Odilon Redon,'' 2005, & *Andre Mellerio, ''Odilon Redon,'' 1968, ASIN B0007DNIKO *Odilon Redon and Alfred Werner, ''The Graphic Works of Odilon Redon'', Dover, 1969, *Odilon Redon and Alfred Werner, ''The Graphic Works of Odilon Redon'', (Dover Pictorial Archive), 2005, & *Margret Stuffmann, ''Odilon Redon: As in a Dream,'' 2007, &

External links

*
odilonredon.net
– Online biography and pictures of Odilon Redon

– Links to Redon's works
The Athenaeum
– Extensive list and images of Redon's works
Museum Syndicate
– Odilon Redon Gallery at Museum Syndicate
Web Museum
– Biography and images of Redon's works *
MoMA Exhibition
– "Beyond the Visible – The Art of Odilon Redon" – MoMA exhibition (October 2005 – January 2006)
www.odilon-redon.org
– Site with 322 images by Odilon Redon

– Timeline of Redon's life
Redon's Cats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redon, Odilon 1840 births 1916 deaths Artists from Bordeaux 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists 19th-century French engravers 20th-century French engravers 19th-century French lithographers 20th-century French lithographers Post-impressionist painters French Symbolist painters French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Recipients of the Legion of Honour French draughtsmen 20th-century French printmakers 19th-century French male artists