ODILON REDON (1840-1916)

L' Aile

Details

ODILON REDON (1840-1916)
L' Aile
lithograph
1893
on Chine appliqué paper
from the edition of 25 impressions
printed by Becquet, Paris
with wide margins
some pale foxing, otherwise in good condition
Image 31,8 x 24,5 cm. (12 ½ x 9 ½ in.)
Sheet 44,2 x 35,6 cm. (17 ½ x 14 in.)

Provenance

Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, 18-19 June, 1998, lot 762 (unsold).
Acquired after the above sale; by descent to the present owners.

Literature

A. Mellerio, Odilon Redon, New York, 1968, no. 122, p. 111 (another impression ill.).
S. Pinsky, M. Rosen, I. Mackenzie, Prints and Portfolios by Odilon Redon (1840-1916), exh. cat., London, June-July 1997, no. 21 (another impression ill.).

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Zack Boutwood Cataloguer

zboutwood@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2025

Lot Essay

Within Odilon Redon's dark and melancholic printed oeuvre, this image of the divine winged horse Pegasus surrounded by an aureole of light is a remarkably uplifting work. Pinsky, Rosen and Mackenzie thought it might be symbolic of the recovery of his country several years after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The 1890s in France, the height of the Belle Époque, were a period of optimism and renewed confidence.

It appears that Redon and the printer had envisaged an edition of fifty, but but the actual print-run did not exceed 25 impressions and a few trial proofs.

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