The casino, Royan, France-LCCN2001698693

Gaston Redon (28 October 1853 – 20 November 1921) was a French architect, teacher, and graphic artist.

Biography

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, the younger brother of

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolism (arts), symbolist painter, printmaker, Drawing, draughtsman and pastellist. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he ...

. Gaston attended the

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 ...

in the atelier of

Louis-Jules André Louis-Jules André (24 June 1819 – 30 January 1890) was a French academic architect and the head of an important ''atelier'' at the École des Beaux-Arts. Biography Born in Paris, André attended the École des Beaux-Arts and took the Prix ...

, and took the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for architecture in 1883. This entitled him to three years at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

from 1884 to 1887, where he met and became friends with the composer

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

. After his return to Paris, Redon was made the official architect of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. The rebuilding and expansion of the

Pavillon de Marsan The Pavillon de Marsan or Marsan Pavilion was built in the 1660s as the northern end of the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and reconstructed in the 1870s after the Tuileries burned down at the end of the Paris Commune. Following the completion of th ...

(the most northwestern wing of the palace) between 1900 and 1905 to accommodate the Museum of Decorative Arts amounts to his major built work. Redon was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

in May 1914, and, jointly with Alfred-Henri Recoura, ran an architecture atelier at the Ecole. His students included French architects

Henri Marchal Henri Marchal (June 24, 1876 – April 10, 1970) was a French architect and civil servant. He devoted a great part of his life to research on the art and archeology of Cambodia and the conservation and restoration of Khmer architecture, Khmer mon ...

Roger-Henri Expert Roger-Henri Expert (18 April 1882 – 13 April 1955) was a French architect. Life The son of a merchant, Expert first studied painting at the École des beaux-arts in Bordeaux, then from 1906 attended the École nationale supérieure des Be ...

, and

Louis-Hippolyte Boileau Louis-Hippolyte Boileau (; 1878–1948) was a French architect. Grandson of Louis-Auguste Boileau (1812–1896) and son of Louis-Charles Boileau (1837–1914, architect of the Hôtel Lutetia), Louis-Hippolyte studied at the École nationale supér ...

among others.

Works

His work includes: * the tomb of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

, 1894 * the casino at

Royan Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; oc, Roian) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are known as ''Royannais'' and ''Royannaises''. Capi ...

, 1895 (destroyed 1945) * Museum of Decorative Arts,

, 1900–1905

Sources

online biography (in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redon, Gaston 1853 births 1921 deaths 19th-century French architects 20th-century French architects Prix de Rome for architecture Members of the Académie des beaux-arts École des Beaux-Arts alumni Architects from Bordeaux Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery