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Lot Essay
To be included in the supplement to the catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné d'Odilon Redon being prepared by Alec Wildenstein at the Wildenstein Institute.
By the early 1890s Redon had made an extensive reputation for his work, based mainly on his charcoal drawings (which he referred to as his 'noirs'), and his lithographs, both of which found a ready market. A small group of avid collectors eagerly awaited his new work, and he allowed a select few to purchase earlier drawings.
In 1896 Redon mentioned to Andries Bonger, one of his favored clients, that he was now frequently working in pastel. Redon was not worried that his clientele would desert him now that he was drawing with color, and in fact his sales income continued to climb through the remainder of the decade, and by 1900 he was selling as many paintings and pastels as drawings and prints. In a group exhibition in March 1899 at Galerie Durand-Ruel (which also featured artists of the younger generation such as Emile Bernard, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier and Edouard Vuillard), Redon for the first time showed more pastels than works in black-and-white. All of the pastels were sold before the exhibition closed, and some collectors had even approached the artist asking to see new works as he produced them.
By 1893 Redon, through the auspices of his friend André Mellerio, attracted the fervent patronage of the Baron Robert de Domecy, a Burgundian, who was the first owner of the present work. Domecy, became an avid collector of the artist's drawings, and Redon rewarded him with access to his prized 'noirs' of the 1870s, many of which still remained in the artist's possession. Domecy quickly developed a taste for Redon's new work in color as well, and by 1900 he owned ten of the artist's pastels.
The subject of the present work is enigmatic, and is not seen elsewhere in the artist's oeuvre. Redon drew Le satyr au cynique sourire in 1877 (Wildenstein, no. 1231), which was also owned by Domecy and a horned and very sinister-looking head appears in the painting Têtes (Wildenstein, no. 1122). However, the horned visage in the present work shares neither the leering, mischievous expression of the satyr nor the devilish aspect of Têtes. Instead, its large eyes and rounded features betoken a character of gentler wisdom and experience, an idea reinforced by the presence of a glowing orb of light at his shoulder. His horns may be a part of his heavy headgear. Joseph Campbell in his Masks of God: Primitive Mythology notes how tribal shamans are usually identifiable in early cave paintings and later tribal arts by the large protruding horns in their headdresses. They derived their powers from the sun.
It is difficult to gauge what access Redon had to such specifics of prehistoric mythology. Edward Taylor published his Primitive Cultures, a study of animism and primitive thought, in 1871. Sir James Gordon Frazer's The Golden Bough, his massive study of comparative ritual and myth, came out in 1890. The great cave paintings in Altamira, northern Spain, were discovered in 1879, although it was not until 1901-1902, after similar caves had been discovered in southern France, that the authenticity of these paleolithic pictures were widely accepted and drawings made of them.
Whatever the source of the symbolism in this pastel, the figure is related to the central figure in Redon's mythological pantheon: Apollo. "For him the Apollo myth represented not just the triumph of good over evil and day over night, but that of the creative spirit over matter, the power of art to transcend and make sense of chaos" (G. Groom, "The Artist as Mythmaker," Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 333).
By the early 1890s Redon had made an extensive reputation for his work, based mainly on his charcoal drawings (which he referred to as his 'noirs'), and his lithographs, both of which found a ready market. A small group of avid collectors eagerly awaited his new work, and he allowed a select few to purchase earlier drawings.
In 1896 Redon mentioned to Andries Bonger, one of his favored clients, that he was now frequently working in pastel. Redon was not worried that his clientele would desert him now that he was drawing with color, and in fact his sales income continued to climb through the remainder of the decade, and by 1900 he was selling as many paintings and pastels as drawings and prints. In a group exhibition in March 1899 at Galerie Durand-Ruel (which also featured artists of the younger generation such as Emile Bernard, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Sérusier and Edouard Vuillard), Redon for the first time showed more pastels than works in black-and-white. All of the pastels were sold before the exhibition closed, and some collectors had even approached the artist asking to see new works as he produced them.
By 1893 Redon, through the auspices of his friend André Mellerio, attracted the fervent patronage of the Baron Robert de Domecy, a Burgundian, who was the first owner of the present work. Domecy, became an avid collector of the artist's drawings, and Redon rewarded him with access to his prized 'noirs' of the 1870s, many of which still remained in the artist's possession. Domecy quickly developed a taste for Redon's new work in color as well, and by 1900 he owned ten of the artist's pastels.
The subject of the present work is enigmatic, and is not seen elsewhere in the artist's oeuvre. Redon drew Le satyr au cynique sourire in 1877 (Wildenstein, no. 1231), which was also owned by Domecy and a horned and very sinister-looking head appears in the painting Têtes (Wildenstein, no. 1122). However, the horned visage in the present work shares neither the leering, mischievous expression of the satyr nor the devilish aspect of Têtes. Instead, its large eyes and rounded features betoken a character of gentler wisdom and experience, an idea reinforced by the presence of a glowing orb of light at his shoulder. His horns may be a part of his heavy headgear. Joseph Campbell in his Masks of God: Primitive Mythology notes how tribal shamans are usually identifiable in early cave paintings and later tribal arts by the large protruding horns in their headdresses. They derived their powers from the sun.
It is difficult to gauge what access Redon had to such specifics of prehistoric mythology. Edward Taylor published his Primitive Cultures, a study of animism and primitive thought, in 1871. Sir James Gordon Frazer's The Golden Bough, his massive study of comparative ritual and myth, came out in 1890. The great cave paintings in Altamira, northern Spain, were discovered in 1879, although it was not until 1901-1902, after similar caves had been discovered in southern France, that the authenticity of these paleolithic pictures were widely accepted and drawings made of them.
Whatever the source of the symbolism in this pastel, the figure is related to the central figure in Redon's mythological pantheon: Apollo. "For him the Apollo myth represented not just the triumph of good over evil and day over night, but that of the creative spirit over matter, the power of art to transcend and make sense of chaos" (G. Groom, "The Artist as Mythmaker," Odilon Redon: Prince of Dreams exh. cat. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 333).