Odilon Redon has been one of my favorite artists since I first saw one of his paintings in the Art Institute in Washington, D.C. back in the seventies. His subject matter ranges from boats to people to flowers to abstractions, all rendered in a symbolic style. He lived and painted just past the mid eighteen hundreds, and some of his gaunt, haunting drawings, rendered well before Picasso, clearly influenced that artist in the creation of the gaunt figures of his Blue Period. Hold them side by side and the similarities are striking, right down to positioning of the figure at times. Unfortunately, I've never seen those drawings on the Internet--only in a book of his works that I own. Redon never made a huge name for himself and, still, many art appreciators aren't familiar with his work.
Most of his paintings were quite dark, with a dreamlike quality to them. In fact, he wrote that most of his art came directly from his dreams. It was only later that more light entered his paintings.
If you google his name, you'll find more of his artwork on the web.
1 comment:
Hi Ellen
By all means, look at more. The blurred, surreal look is his style. His art isn't depressing if you look through the bulk of it. Dreamy, as if seen through half-open eyes, is more the way I see it. I simply love it.
Post a Comment