The etchings and lithographs of Odilon Redon

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\
L'A IL E
ODILON REDON
ETCHINGS AND
LITHOGRAPHS
.. . .... . ....... . . ... .. . .. . .. . ... .....
THE ETCHINGS
AND LITHOGRAPHS
OF
ODILON REDO N
(r84o-1916)
\
THE ART INSTITUTE
OF CHICAGO
NO. 20. PERVERSITE.
(PROOF BEFORE DRY-POINT BACKGROUND)
'
ODILON REDON
"All my originality consists ... in putting the logic
of the visible to the service of the invisible."
2GLORQREDON .
"ODILON REDON . . . occupies a place apart. ''
Twice with thesewordsAndre Mellerio, his best
critic, has opened important studies of the artist.
"Nowhere perhaps in the history of art or literature can
one find an example of such a singular creature as Odilon
Redon'' writes Roger Marx . Other critics, who have
been inspired to superlatives rather than to criticism,
have called him "absolutely original" and "unique. "
But is the creator of "Dans le Reve" and the flower
pastels so isolated? Is he really the phenomenon of his
age and a person apart? Decidedly not . Redon by his
psychology and cast of mind belongs to his epoch. Contradicting Roger Marx one might almost say, ''Nowhere
perhaps in the history of art or literature can one find an
artist who is more the child of his century. ' '
He was born in 1840 in the very midst of Romanticism
and in a way never escaped its hold. That is, he was
continually putting fe eling before reason and intuition before knowledge. His father was a "primitive," a man
who had lived in the American Savannahs and adored
Chateaubriand. Redon, a frail child, was brought up in
the Medoc, and though part of his account in "A-SoiMeme" may be dismissed as the conventional brooding
over childhood, yet the country with its dreary wastes
of sand and desolate plains must have impressed him.
Add to this that he was lonely and given to day-dreams,
and you have all the elements necessary to produce the
typical romantic mind, overbalanced with sensibility.
5
6
ODILON REDON
This sensibility had to find an outlet and when he was
ten or eleven years of age, Redan began to draw. Put
in school about the same time, he was unhappy until
a drawing-teacher took an interest in him. "His first
words . . . were to advise me that I was myself, and
that I should never make a single mark with a pencil
unless my feeling and my reason were in it. " The same
professor taught him to appreciate Delacroix and later
took him to the Louvre . It was inevitable that in
following his advice, Redan should continue to develop
his particular bent of drawing, rather than subscribe to
the usual academic regime. That is exactly what happened. He failed the Beaux Arts, and entering the
Atelier Gerome, found that his failure to render the
forms of things accurately was a constant embarrassment
to him. Before the model his skill completely vanished
and though he worked hard he could not please Gerome .
During these years he was particularly miserable. Like
any unadjusted artist he felt that his medium must be at
fault. At sixteen he had begun to study architecture;
.now he turned to sculpture . He met Carat and Chintreuil and for awhile painted a sort of mock Barbizon
landscape. He went faithfully to the museums where he
copied Delacroix, or rather interpreted Delacroix,
through his own formula of mass and strange color. His
greatest inspiration, during this part of his life, came
from Armand Clavaud, a romantic botanist who was
experimenting one moment with the life of the most delicate plant and the next was reading aloud from the
poems of Edgar Allan Poe or Baudelaire.
Round the year 1863, at Bordeaux, Redan met Rudolphe Bresdin who taught him something about lithography and etching. His first etchings are very close to
Bresdin 's, and display mountain landscapes with medi-
ODILON REDON
7
eval horsemen, strictly in the conventional taste. If
Redon does not exhibit any striking ability in them, at
least he does not repeat the minute, cumbersome detail
of his master. Then we come to a plate (No. 10 in the
catalogue of his graphic work by Andre Mellerio)which
is apparently like the rest. A knight in white gallops
across a stretch of lonely mountains towards a sky
which is rolling up white clouds . At least that is the
design that Mellerio reproduces. But in the Art Institute
Collection there is another version. After .only three
proofs had been pulled Redon suddenly turned the plate
on end. He thought he saw a head in the clouds and he
goes to work to change the whole plate to suit that
fancy. With burnisher he rubs out the knight; he traces
the line of a woman's shoulder, and darkens other portions of the design. ''My father used to say to me 'Look
at the clouds. Do you see moving forms there the way
I do?' . . . and I passed hours following, with infinite
pleasure, the marvelous shimmering of their fleeting
changes . "
The altered plate, from which he printed one proof
and then destroyed the copper, is important to a study
of Redon's mind, because it means that as early as 1865
or 1866he was willing to sacrifice a more or less representational design, over which he must have worked
hard, for an entirely fantastic design, executed on a
whim of the moment. It means that his inner eye was
already stronger than his realistic eye. Obviously, he
did not realize the significance of the plate, for about the
same time he tried to be a realist, applying the palette of
Courbet.
It is clear that these years represent the crisis in
Redon's art. Discouraged by every effort to express real
appearances he was thrown back on the world of unreal
o.
N
ODILON REDON
9
appearances, the imagination. His problem, which is
the usual one of the misunderstood romantic, was to
create a complete dream-world out of the impressions,
feelings and sensations· of his outer life. The discovery
of charcoal as a medium helped him in this problem.
Delighted by its rich black and subtle grays, he gave up
trying to paint in color. After he had made a number of
drawings, he wished to multiply them and thought of
lithography, then a much-rejected medium. FantinLatour helped him with the process and in 1879 appeared
his first collection of plates, Dans le Reve . It had taken
him thirty years to complete his vision and to find a
medium which would successfully interpret it.
He needed subjects to stimulate this vision and these
he found not in the field of art, as much as in the field of
romantic literature . It is clear that although Redon has
certain sympathies with Delacroix, Leonardo da Vinci,
Diirer and Rembrandt, and though he dedicated one set
of plates to Goya, he was less influenced by the art of
these men than he was by the art of words. His journal
is full of prose-poems, and he is fond of long descriptive
titles for his lithographs. At least three of his own
series are connected with romantic terms . ''La Nuit' 'was
a favorite word of the period, which expressed all the
mystery and terror of night; "Songes" and "Le Reve"
did not mean the dreams which come from well-deserved
slumber, but the hallucinations of the mind during sleep
or day-dreaming.
In his designs for Poe, Baudelaire and Flaubert, Redon
responded similarly to the magic of words. He did not
illustrate the text exactly; he produced what he called
"correspondences." Here, as he tells us himself, the
unconscious mind was of the greatest benefit to him. A
word or a phrase, dropped into his nervously receptive
10
ODILON REDON
mind, started a train of images which expressed themselves on paper almost without his help. At other times
he would vary this automatic drawing with minute
studies from nature . After having made a certain number
of these he would be seized with an urge to create, and
putting away the representations, would rapidly draw
his own version. The ''correspondences'' are particularly clear in the three albums of ·plates made for the
Tentation de Saint-Antoine. Flaubert possessed a remarkable visual sense, and Redon produced some of his most
compelling designs to illustrate this strange mixture of
drama, grand opera, novel , epic and ballet.
Not only romantic literature but romantic science
furnished him with material. In Les Origines (1883), he
found organic evolution a source fora new decoration.
The immense scale of the prehistoric period, and the
minutely organized world revealed through the microscope were further stimulants, and he was much struck
by the inexhaustible fecundity of nature , and the mutations and sports of organic form.
But if Redon found material for his vision in literature
and in science, it was from the poetry of the Symbolist
group that he derived at least a part of his method. The
Symbolists, under the leadership of that somewhat
sterile professor of aesthetics, Stephane Mallarme, were
at their height round 1885 In their poetic theories they
insisted on the obscure and the mysterious. Mallarme,
whom Redon knew well, preached the value of suggestion 1
and in following thistenet, the artist was departing
strikingly from his contemporaries the Impressionists.
Monet and Renoir he admired and often defended but he
1 As a good example of Mallarme's indirectness we may take a sentence from his criticism of Redon. "In your silences," he wrote, "you
ruffle the plumage of dreams and of night."
ODILON REDON
II
found their art a little too explicit. He preferred the fragment, the "half-word." "My designs," he was fond of
saying, "inspire and do not define."
Mallarme decreed that a poem should have a chief
metaphor, and in Redon's art you find at least three main
symbols. The first is the familiar "dream-face" of the
Romantics. Redon's version is a curious, half-morbid
conception, with shallow forehead, large staring eyes,
and a mouth like a slit. He employs the same'profile to
illustrate Poe's Lenore and in his plates of Folie and
Britnnhilde. Turned full face, with eyes hollowed out it
resolves itself into the features of Christ. Flowers, which
were to Redon, "half plant, half animal" he used for
their qualities of enigmatic life. His third symbol; that
of a horse with wings, represents material bodies lifted
to the heights by imagination. The tragedies of Bellerophon and Phaeton result when material bodies are carried away by the intoxication of the infinite. Closely connected is another theory of the Symbolists, that poetry,
in Mallarme's words, should be'allusive music.'' Redon,
who was passionately fond of music, and particularly of
Berlioz and Beethoven, remarks, "My art places us like
music in a world indeterminate and ambiguous.'' Symbolist poetry, at its best, was called "symphonic";
critics in speaking of Redon's designs have more than
once referred to them by the same term.
All this shows that Redon was particularly involved
in the psychological attitudes of his time. Literature
furnished him with subjects, music and Symbolist poetry,
with a method. His art, psychologically considered,
sets in motion a series of memeries and allusions . "I call
romantic," says Roger )U\ "any work of art which to
produce its effect counts on the association of ideas which
it sets up in the mind of the spectator."
12.
ODILON REDON
But it would be unfair to Redon to stop here, leaving
the impression that he was completely romantic. There
is another side to his art, as shown by his serious study
of form. ·'I call classical the work which to provoke
emotion depends on its own formal organization,' ' continues Roger Fry in the same definition. On his objective
side, Redon is certainly classical. Though he illustrated
Poe ·and Flaubert, it was to Montaigne and Saint-Simon
that he turned for his pleasure, and he once conceived
the project of an album for the Pensees of Pascal, who is
the master of the logical vision. He was not, in spite of
his connection with literature, a "literary" painter. Des
Esseintes, the hero of Huysmans' A Rebours is made to
admire the work of Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon.
The contrast is significant. Moreau was a cold "literary'' draughtsman, and his plates of Salome and David are
heavy with the freight of romantic stage-setting. Any
formal sense is lost in the multiplication of antique detail.
In such a plate as his Orestes the eye wanders, lighting
on swinging lamps, marble urns, and inlaid pillars until
at last it seeks out the hero, fallen before a late Empire
fireplace .
Redon, from his study of music, doubtless early
realized the direct emotional effect of form . Even in his
automatic designing, he always subordinated, and kept
to a central plan. Etching he gave up, partly because it
was a medium that tempted him to extraneous detail.
Charcoal suited his plastic purpose better for it allowed
him to model his designs in tremendous contrasts . He
called his lithographs his "noirs " because their whole
substance depended on black. "Black is the most important color," he wrote. "Nothing can prostitute it . "
He made countless preliminary studies, experimenting
with different effects of black until the right dominant
ODILON REDON
was reached . ' 'Since the beginning I have always sought
for perfection in form.''
' His blacks were varied by certain effects of luminosity
which he took from the Impressionists. To the intense
dark, he added a scale of delicate grays, and it is a mixture of these, with an occasional use of sudden white, that
gives Redan's designs their direct, suggestive power. In
addition he possessed-perhaps from his study of architecture-a sense of abstract line and pattern. This is not
unusual in a period which has the brilliant designing of
Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. But Redan 's patterns are
more three-dimensional than theirs. His simplest head,
modeled in extreme darks and lights and placed against
a background which by its subtle minglings of gray is
made to suggest infinite depth, has a remarkable spatial
quality. It is not so much a drawing as it is a painting
in charcoal for it has all the values of painting. At other ·
times sparks of light weave a pattern out of immense
dusk . A dark, heavy profile is suddenly revealed against
light or a radiant mist surrounds and creates form out of
darkness. In discussing Redan's psychology, we stressed
his reliance on WKHfragmentary. Certain of his forms are
unfinished, but their sense of modeling is so sure that the
eye readily supplies the rest . His illustration of Satan
and the Seven Deadly Sins for the WHQWDWLRQis a striking
example.
Not only. did Redan know how to model his figures
with surety but he knew the effect of asymmetry as well.
A motif, placed off-center, creates a different emotional
response than if it were placed exactly. There are a
series of plates in the present collection which show
Redan changing the plate again and again until the
proper pattern results . Certain Impressionists, following
the Japanese , were able by similar arrangement to gain
ODILON REDON
J
a sense of vivacity and life, but Redan's use is more consistent . He did not care for the accidental movement, the
"staccato" impression which they were always trying
to catch. There are, however , certain recurring forms in
his designs which have special rhythms of their own. He
uses the circle, sometimes as a shining disk, sometimes as
a slowly turning wheel. Considered spatially it becomes
a sphere, an eye, or a balloon . It is frequentl y set into
whirling gyroscopic motion . Flowers, halos, and suns
revolve. Sometimes the edge of the design cuts the circle
to an arc; the eye is carried round, and an extension of
space has been gained. Another form, that of the diagonal shaft, crosses the space like a search-light, carving
out interesting relations . Very important is the arabesque. ''Imagine arabesques,"wrote Redan , "or different kinds of meanders unrolling, not RQa surface but in
space ." Again and again Redan has used this coiling or
uncoiling form, of which a remarkable example is found
in his design for the figure of Death.
By 1899 he had produced some one hundred and sixtyseven lithographs and had been working in black and
white for twenty years . Occasionally he had printed
his plates on tinted papers and now the idea of resuming
color seems to have come to him. During his period of
self-imposed limitation he had fixed the forms of his art .
Now he was ready for oil, pastel and water-color. In
oil, he was hardly at his best; the radiance of his color
seems a little dimmed by the medium, but in watercolor and particularly in pastel, he produced during
the last sixteen years of his life a remarkable series of
designs, choosing the classic myths, girls' heads, or
flowers as subjects. "I took up pastel again with the
hope of giving more substance to my dreams ," he wrote .
Some of the flower pieces in which the ''dream-face" is
ODILON. REDON
likely to appear are among his masterpieces . The flowers
have become stiffened into design; the most ordinary
bouquet of anemones, geraniums, and field-daisies takes
on, under his manipulation, a certain eternal quality.
This is partly the result of his colors- he employs a
striking "orchestration" of prismatic green, orange,
violet and blue-and partly because he replaces the
usual Impressionist pastel, made up of threads of multiple color, with tones contrasted in flat patterns and
delicately graded in themselves. In the exotic quality
of his flowers, Redon shows his romantic outlook; in the
precision of drawing and the balance of design, he is
classical.
But this was Redon's genius: to combine the psychology of his time with that feeling for form whic,h belongs
to all periods of art. Every great imaginative artist has
paid tribute to his age; El Greco's pietistic fervors no
longer convince us; Blake's angels often have a late
Georgian look; Albert Ryder's nymphs are a little
Victorian, but the formal qualities in these men remain
to move us. This is the case with Odilon Redon; part
of him is already lost in the nineteenth century but part
of him belongs to art.
D . C. R.
THE ART
N 192.0, the Art Institute purchased from the widow
of Odilon Redon the artist 's own collection of his
etchings and lithographs, probably the most complete representation of his graphic work in existence. It
is well known that though Redon owed his working
knowledge of
processes to Rudolphe Bresdin, it was
Fantin-Latour who suggested lithography to him as a
means of multiplying his charcoal drawings .
the
artist's evaluation of this medium we have his own
words :
must respect the black,'' he wrote. ''Nothing prostitutes it. It does not please the eye and it
awakens no sensuality. It is the agent of the mind far
more than the most
color of the palette or the
prism. And so good engraving will more likely be
enjoyed in a serious country, where out-of-door
since it is less clement, makes man stay at home cultivating his own thought, as in Northern lands for example,
and not in those of the
where the sun takes us out
of doors and charms us. It is hardly considered at all in
France, except when cheapened by color, which destroys
the engraving value, giving it a different result and making it approach a chromo."
Andre Mellerio, who compiled a catalogue raisonne
of Redon's graphic work, listed twenty-six etchings .
The present collection has twenty-four others of different
states, and three evidently not known to Mellerio. In
this medium, the artist shows the influence of Bresdin,
particularly in the "Cavalier Galopant" (Mellerio No.
10), of which the collection possesses another example,
and in the "Cavalier dans l'Attente" ( Mellerio No. 7),
of which we have a state not mentioned by Mellerio
16
I
ODILON REDON
17
before the plate was cut down and with a lightly
sketched study of the upper part of the horseman in
the margin. Redon's etchings range from his earliest
efforts of 1861 to 1866, to his final plate in 1913, with
occasional plates between 1866 and 1888, and one each
in the years 1888, 1891, and 1892..
Of his litho graphs, the collection comprises some
three hundred and twenty-nine impressions of the one
hundred and eighty-one subjects listed by Mellerio.
The first were published in 1879 and there followed a
constant production until the year 1908. In 1882-, inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, he dedicated his
album, "A Edgar Poe," and the next year he printed six
lithographs, ''Hommage aGoya.'' The three series illustrating the "Tentation de Saint-Antoine," ten in 1888,
six in 1889, and twenty-four in 1896, interpreted the
Flaubert text, and there are six lithographs illustrating
"la Maison Hantee," a translation of Bulwer-Lytton's
"House and the Brain" and six "Songes" dedicated to
the memory of Armand Clavaud, both published in 1896.
Finally his last album, twelve designs for the "Apocalypse de Saint-Jean" appeared in 1899·
In 189o, there had been published by the Evely process
on copper, nine reproductions from designs interpreting
"Les Fleurs du Mal" of Charles Baudelaire. By the same
process there exists, in our collection, a self-portrait
described by Mellerio in a note following No . 81 in his
catalogue.
W. McC. McK.
THE
ETCHINGS AND LITHOGRAPHS
OF
ODILON REDON
r
NO.
7.
CAVALIER DANS L' ATTENTE. (PROOF BEFORE PLATE
WAS CUT DOWN)
l
THE ETCHINGS AND LITHOGRAPHS
OF ODILON REDON
NOTE: The priors are numbered according ro "Odilon Redon " by
Andre Mellerio (Societe pour l'Erude de Ia Gravure Francaise) Paris,
I9I3· Variations from Mellerio's descriptions are specially noted and
prints not mentioned in his catalog are marked w ith an (*). Some of
these variations are contained in no res in French script occurring throughour th e collecrion which are taken robe by Madame Redon.
'
c. I86r.
I.
CHAPELLE DFS PYRENEES.
2..
L E GUE.
3.
LES DEUX PETITS CAVALIERS.
4·
LUTTE D E CAVALIERS.
1865
1865.
a. Before shading on rocks in lower right marked
Ietat" by Mme . Redon.
b. As described in Mellerio .
1865.
1865.
*a. Proof before shading on neck of horse and
figure in lower right .
b. As described by Mellerio.
5. BATAILLE .
6.
LA PEUR.
1865.
*a. Proof before signature in plate lower left.
b. As described by Mellerio.
7•
CAVALIER DANS L' ATTENTE
1866.
*a. Proof before plate was cut down; small pen
and ink sketch of figure lower center (p. 2.0).
b. As described by Mellerio.
2.1
CATALOGUE
8. CAVALIER DANS LES MONTAGNES. r866.
9· CAVALIER SOUS UN CIEL D'ORAGE. 1866.
1stproof.
2nd proof.
10. CAVALIER GALOPANT. C. 1866.
rob is. Plate No . ro changed as follows: clouds in center
of plate converted into . nude figure. Horse and
rider obliterated and entire left portion of plate
reworked. Marked "unique" by Mme. Redan
(illustrated p. 8).
II. PAYSAGE DE MONTAGNES . C. r866.
12. SAINT-JEAN-PIED-DE-PORT. r866.
13. CROQurs. Before r87o.
14. DAVID. C. 1880.
I).
TOBIE. C. r88o.
rst state-marked 2 eme etat" by Mme . Redon.
2.nd state- marked "epreuve unique" by Mme.
Redon.
3rd state-marked "1 er etat" by Mme. Redon .
r6. VISION DE REVE. 1880.
*Proof before plate was cut down and tree at left
removed; marked "epreuve unique" by Mme.
Redan.
MAUVAISE GLOIRE. 1886.
r8. CAIN ET ABEL. 1886.
19. PETIT PRELAT. DRYPOINT. 1888.
20. PERVERSITE. I89I.
*a. Proof before drypoint background and before
finely scratched modeling on shoulders marked
"1er etat'' by Mme. Redan (illustrated p. 4).
b. As described in Mellerio.
CATALOGUE
21
25
1891
Frontispiece for La Passante, roman d'une ame, by
Adrien Remade.
·22. PRINCESSE MALEINE. 1892.
This is also known as The Little Madonna.
23. ENIGME. Dry-point. 1892.
2.4. LE LIVRE. 1892.
This is also known as Sainte Therese .
25. SCIAPODE. 1892.
1.5bis EX-LIBRIS. 1913.
a. Proof. 1893·
*b. Proof. Hair added in dry-point. Small hair
lines left side lower lip.
c. Frontispiece to Mellerio Catalogue .
*25ter PAYSAGE AVEC ARBRE (illustrated p. 22).
PASSAGE D uneAME.
*25qttaterPORTE-ETENDARD
TRAVERSANT LE RUISSEAU.
a. As illustrated p. 24.
b. Same with pen work.
LITHOGRAPHS
DANS LE REVE
(An album of ten lithographs and a frontispiece. r879.)
2.6. COUVERTURE-FRONTISPICE.
2.7. I. Eclosion (illustrated p. 2.8) .
2.8. II. GERMINATION.
2.9. III. LA ROUE.
30. IV. LIMBES.
31. V. LEJOUEUR.
32.. VI. GNOME.
33 . VII. FELINERIE .
34· VIII. VISION.
a. One of the former states mentioned in Mellerio.
Before the wreath in hand of the right figure.
Base of left column not definitely formed.
b. State described in Mellerio.
3 5. ix. TRISTE MONTEE.
36. X. SUR LA COUPE.
a. One of the former states mentioned in Mellerio.
Before signature lower right . Base of sundial
and helmet not modeled.
b. State described in Mellerio.
A EDGAR POE
(An album of six lithographs and a frontispiece,
dedicated to Edgar Poe by Odilon Redon, showing the
influence of Poe, but not directly illustrating his work.
r882..)
37. COUVERTURE-FRONTISPICE.
38. I. L'OEIL, COMME UN BALLON BIZARRE SE DIRIGE VERS
L'INFlNI.
39·
II.
DEVANT
LE
NOIR
SOLEIL
LENOR APPARAIT.
2.6
DE
LA
MELANCOLIE, .
CATALOGUE
40.
41.
42.
III.
UN MASQUE SONNE LE GLAS FUNEBRE.
IV.
A L'HORIZON,
L' ANGE DES CERTITUDES, ET, DANS
LE CIEL SOMBRE, UN REGARD INTERROGATEUR.
V.
LE SOUFFLE QUI CONDUIT LES ETRES EST AUSSI DANS
LES SPHERES.
43.
*a . Proof before letters and before faces in lower
portion.
b. State described in Mellerio.
Vl.
LA FOLIE.
LES ORIGINES
(An album of eight lithographs and a frontispiece.
r883 .) Without letters.
44· COUVERTURE-FRONTISPJCE.
45· I. QUAND s'EVEILLAIT LA VIE AU FOND DE LA MATIERE
OBSCURE.
46.
II.
IL Y EUT PEUT-ETRE UNE VISION PREMIERE ESSAYEE
DANS LA FLEUR.
47·
III.
LE POLYPE DIFFORME FLOTTAIT SURLES RIVAGES,
SORTE DE CYCLOPE SOURIANT ET HIDEUX.
48.
49·
IV.
V.
LA SIRENE SORTIT DES FLOTS, VETUE DE DARDS.
LE SATYRE AU CYNIQUE SOURIRE.
50. VI.
)I. VII.
IL Y EUT DES LUTTES ET DE VAINES VICTOIRES.
L'AILE IMPUISSANTE N'ELEVA POINT LA BETE EN
CES NO IRS ESP ACES.
)2.
VIII.
ET L'HOMME PARUT; INTERROGEANT LE SOL D'ou
IL SORT ET QUI L'ATTIRE, IL SE FRAY A LA VOlE VERS
DE SOMBRES CLARTES.
53.
CENTAURE VISANT LES NUES.
HOMMAGE A GOYA
(Album of six lithographs dedicated to Goya by
Redan. r885.)
54. I. DANS MON REVE, JE VIS AU CIEL UN VISAGE DE
MYSTERE.
No. 2 7 .
ECLOSIO N
CATALOGUE
55. II.
LA FLEUR DU MARECAGE, UNE TETE HUMAINE ET
TRISTE.
56.
57.
58.
III.
UN FOU DANS UN MORNE PAYSAGE.
IV.
IL Y EUT AUSSI DES ETRES EMBRYONNAIRES.
v.
uN ETRANGE JONGLEuR.
*a. Before tassel lower right and before leaves
across upper right portion. Without letters.
Marked Ieretat" by Mme. Redon.
b. As described in Mellerio.
59· VI. AU REVElL j' Apercus LA DEESSE DE L'INTELLIGIBLE
AU PROFIL SEVERE ET DUR.
6o.
L' OEUF.
(Trial-piece not included in the album.)
Before faces in background at right; before
shadow covering right eye; before table is
defined lower right.
b. As described in Mellerio.
61.
PROFIL DE LUMIERE.
a.
LA NUIT
(An album of six lithographs. 1886.)
62. I. A LA VIEILLESSE.
a. Marked "epreuve d'essai" by Mme. Redon .
b. With letters.
63. II. L'HOMME FUT SOLITAIRE DANS UN PAYSAGE DE
NUIT.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
III.
L' ANGE PERDU OUVRIT ALORS DES AILES NOIRES.
IV.
LA CHIMERE REGARD A AVEC EFFROI TO UTES CHOSES.
V.
VI.
LES PRETRESSES FURENT EN ATTENTE.
ET LE CHERCHEUR ETAIT
A LA
RECHERCHE INFINIE.
BRUNNHILDE.
Published without text in the Revue wagnerienne.
1886. Proof on heavy white paper.
NO.
JI6.
PARSIFAL
CATALOGUE
69.
1887.
Published without text 1n the Revue independante.
70. JEUNE F ILLE. 1887.
a. Proof of earlier state mentioned in Mellerio.
Before folds in headdress upper right were
erased.
b. Proof of state described in Mellerio.
71. CHRIST. 1887.
72... ARAIGNEE. 1887.
a. Proof of earlier state mentioned in Mellerio.
Before shadow across face was darkened.
b. Proof before signature and letters.
c. As described in Mellerio.
73. MENU POUR LE DINER DES LITHOGRAPHES )5$1&$,6DU
I er AVRIL. 1887.
74· L'IDOLE.
Frontispiece for Les Soirs by Emile Verhaeren, 1887.
CIME NOIRE.
LE
JURE
( An album of seven lithographs for Le Jure, a "monodrame" in five acts by Edmond Picard. 1887.)
75· J. UN HOMME DU PEUPLE, UN SAUVAGE.
76. II. DANS LE DEDALE DES BRANCHES LA BLEME FIGURE
APP ARAISSAIT.
77·
III.
78.
IV.
.
.
UNE CLOCHE BATTAIT DANS LA TOUR . •
a. As described in Mellerio.
*b. Plate re-worked. Arches lower center accentuated. Dark mass to left of tower
scraped to the semblance of an arch.
PAR LA FENTE DU MUR, UNE TETE DE MORT FUT
PROJETEE.
*a. Earlier state before drawing was reduced in
size ( H. 2..38-L. 184).
b. As described in Mellerio.
CATALOGUE
79·
So.
V.
N'Y A - T-IL PAS UN MONDE INVISIBLE.
VI.
DR AMATIQUE ET GRANDIOSE AVEC SA FIGURE DE
PRETRESSE DRUIDIQUE . . . .
Sr.
VII.
S2.
DES ESSEINTES.
L E REVE S AchevePAR LA MORT.
1SSS.
A frontispiece without text for
Huysmans.
A Rebours by
]. K.
TENTATION DE SAINT-ANTOINE
(The first series of ten lithographs and a frontispiece
for Gustave Flaubert's text. 1SSS.)
S3 .
COUVERTURE- FRONTISPICE.
S4.
I. . . . D'ABORD UNE FLAQUE D'EAU, ENSUJTE UNE
a. Proof on white paper.
b. As described in Mellerio .
PROSTITUEE , L E COIN D'UN TEMPLE, UNE FIGURE DE
SOLDAT, UN CHAR AVEC D EUX CHEVAUX BLANCS QUI
SE CABRENT.
85.
II.
C Est LE DIABLE, PORTANT SOUS SES DEUX AILES LES
SEPT PECHES CAPITAUX . . . .
86.
III. .
.
. ET UN GRAND OISEAU QUI DESCEND DU CIEL
VIENT SABATTRE SUR LE SOMMET D E SA CHEVELURE.
a. Proof without letters .
b. As described in Mellerio.
87.
88.
IV.
S9.
VI.
IL HAUSSE LE VASE D'AIRAIN.
V.
ENSUITE PARAIT UN ETRE SINGULIER, AYANT UNE
TETE D'HOMME SUR UN CORPS DE POISSON.
c'EsT UNE TETE DE MORT, AVEC UNE COURONNE DE
ROSES.
E LLE DOMINE UN TORSE DE FEMME D'UNE
BLANCHEUR NACREE.
90.
VII..
. . . LA CHIMERE AUX YEUX VERTS TOURNOIE,
A BOlE .
91.
VIII.
ET
TO UTES SORTES DE BETES EFFROY ABLES SUR-
GISSENT.
CATALOGUE
92 .
93·
IX.
33
PARTOUT D ES PRUNELLES FLAMBOIENT.
X . . . . ET DANS LE DISQUE MEME DUSOLEIL.RAYONNE
LA FACE DE JESUS-CHRIST.
A GUSTAVE FLAUBERT
(The second series of the Tentation de Saint-Antoine consisting of six lithographs and a frontispiece, dedicated to
the author, r889.)
The collection contains one complete set with letters
and proofs without letters of Nos . 97, 98 and 99·
94 ·
FRONTISPICE.
a.
95.
proofs of earlier state mentioned in Mellerio
marked 2 epreuves uniques" by Mme.
Redon .
b. As described in Mellerio.
SAINT-ANTOINE . . .
A TRAVERS SES LONGS
I.
2
CHEVEUX QUI LUI COUVRAIENT LA FIGURE ,
J' AI CRU
RECONNAITRE AMMON A RIA.
96 .
II.
. . . UNE
LONGUE
CHRYSA LIDE
COULEUR
DE
SANG.
97 .
III.
LA
MORT:
MON
IRON IE
DEPASSE
TO UTES
LES
AUTRES.!
98 .
IV.
SAINT-ANTOINE : IL DOlT Y AVOIR QUE LQUE PART
DES
FIGURES PRIMORDIALES DONT LES CORPS
NE
SONT QUE LES IMAGES.
99·
V.
LE SPHYNX . . . MON REGARD QUE RIENNE PEUT
DE VIER, DEMEURE TENDU
A
TRAVERS LES CHOSES
SUR UN HORIZON INACCESSIBLE.
LA CHIMERE: MOI
JE SUIS LEGERE ET JOYEUSE.
100
VI.
LES SCIAPODES:
LA TETE LE PLUS BAS POSSIBLE,
c'EsT LE SECRET DU BONHEUR!
101.
LEs DEBACLES. r889 .
A frontispiece for Les Debacles by Emile Verhaeren.
CATALOGUE
34
a. Proof on tinted paper.
b. As described in Mellerio.
102. PEGASE CAPTIF. 1889.
1st State.
znd State.
103. EL MOGHREB-AL-AKSA. 1889.
A frontispiece for El Moghreb Al Aksa by Edmond
Picard. 1890.
104.
105.
LA DAMNATION DE L'ARTISTE, 1889.
A frontispiece for La D amnation de !'Artiste, by I wan
Gilkin. 1890.
a. As described in Mellerio.
b. znd State. Diagonal lines from left to right
across lower part of drawing with letters
E F within them.
1889.
A frontispiece for Les Chimeres by Jules Destree.
1889.
106. LES FLAMBEAUX NOIRS, 1890.
A frontispiece for Les Flambeaux Noirs by Emile
Verhaeren. 1891.
LES CHIMERES,
1890.
a. 1st Tirage. With title.
b. znd Tirage.
c. Drawing cut down. In green ink. Interlaced
monogram, upper left ( H. 218-L. 184).
d . Marked "107 effacage" by Mme. Redon.
Drawing retraced with pen. Crude leaf
studies in lower portion. Printed in blue
ink (H. 294-L. 230).
107. YEUX CLOS,
108.
SERPENT-AUREOLE.
109.
SAINTE ET CHARDON.
1890.
1891.
CATALOGU E
35
SONGES
(An album of six lithographs dedicated to the memory
of Armand Clavaud, r891.)
110.
III.
. . . c'ETAIT UN VOILE, UNE EMPREINTE .
a . Without letters on chine applique.
b. With letters on chine volant.
II . ET LA-BAS L' IDOLE ASTRALE, L'APOTHEOSE .
*a. Proof before drawing was reduced in size.
Without heavy shading to left of shoulder
of figure and less tone throughout ( H. 287L. 224).
b . Without letters on chine applique.
c. With letters on chine volant.
I.
112. III . LUEUR PRECAIRE, UNE TETE A L'INFINI susPENDUE.
a . Without letters on chine applique.
b . With letters on chine volant.
113. IV. SOUS L'AILE D'OMBRE, L'ETRE NOIR APPLIQUAIT
UNE ACTIVE MORSURE.
a. Without letters on chine applique.
b. With letters on chine volant.
114. V. PELERIN DU MONDE SUBLUNAIRE.
a. Without letters on chine applique.
b. With letters on chine applique.
c. With letters on chine volant.
II). VI. LE JOUR .
a. Without letters on chine applique.
b . With letters on chine volant.
II6. PARSIFAL. I892 (illustrated On p . 30).
II7. DRUIDESSE. 1892.
a. Without letters.
b. With letters, upper right.
NO .
120. ARD RE
CATALOGUE
1I8.
ENTRETI EN MYSTIQUE.
125.
126.
CELLULE AURICULAIRE.
37
1892.
a. Without letters.
b. With letters, upper right.
I 19. LE LISEU R . 1892.
120. ARBRE, 1892 (illustrated on p. 36).
a. Without letters .
b. With letters.
121. LES TENEBRES.
A frontispiece for Les Tenebres, by Iwan Gilkin,
1892.
122 L'AILE, 1893 (illustrated on cover).
a. Without letters.
b. With letters, upper left.
[23. LUMIERE. 1893·
a. Without letters .
b. With letters.
124. CHEVALERIES SENTIMENTALES . 1893·
A frontispiece for Chevaleries sentimentales by F.
Herold. Printed in green ink.
MON ENFANT.
1893 ·
1894.
a. Without letters on chine applique.
b. Without letters, Japan paper.
127. CHE VAL AILE . 1894.
Without letters on chine applique .
128. HANTISE . 18941st State. Without letters .
znd State. Without letters .
129. LE COURSIE R. 1894.
a . Proof on heavy cream paper without letters.
b. Same with artist's instructions to printer.
c. On chine applique with Letters .
CATALOGUE
1894.
a. On heavy cream paper (seep. 40) .
b. As described in Mellerio.
L ART CELESTE. 1894·
a. Wi thout letters on chine volant.
b. With letters on chine applique.
c. Withleft portion cut off as described in note
in Mellerio.
L E BUDDHA . 1895.
Buddha : On M'a mene dans les ecoles. Jen savais
plus que les docteurs . From Tentation de SaintAntoine by Gustave Flaubert.
a. I st State. With letters.
b. 2nd State. Without letters.
1 33· CENTAURE VISANT LES NUES. 1895
a. Without letters in gree n ink.
b. Same in black ink.
c. With letters (fault y printing).
130.
Bunnhilde Crepuscule Des DIEux).
0
TENTATION DE SAINT-ANTOINE
(The third series of the T entation de Saint-Antoine consisting of twenty-four lithographs illustrating the text of
Gustave Flaubert, 1896.) The collection contains two
complete sets-with and without letters.
134· I. FRONTISPICE .
a. Orange ink.
b. Violet ink .
c. From canceled plate. Green ink.
135. II. SAINT-ANTOINE: AU SECOURS, MON DIEU!
136. III. ET PARTOUT CE SONT DES COLONNES D E BASALTE,
.
137·
IV.
.
. L A LUMIERE TOMBE DES VOUTES.
MES BAISERS O NT L E GOUT D'UN FRUIT QUI SE
FONDRAIT
DANS
DAIGNES!
ADIEU !
TON
CCEUR. .
.
TU
ME
(
DE-
CATALOGUE
138 .
V.
39
DES PLEU RS TOMBENT, ET LA TETE D'UN PYTHON
l'ARAIT.
I
3 9·
VI.
DANS L' OMBRE DES GENS PLEURENT ET l'RIENT
ENTOUREs D' AUTRES QUILES EXHORTENT
140.
VII. . . . ET IL DISTINGUE UNE PLAINE ARIDE ET
141.
VIII.
MAMELONNEUSE.
ELLE TIRE DE SA POITRINE UNE EPONGE TOUTE
NOIRE, LA COUVRE DE BAISERS.
142.
IX . . . . JE ME SUIS ENPONCE DANS LA SOLITUDE .
J'HADITAIS L' ARBRE DERRIERE MOL
143·
I44·
145·
X.
HELENE (ENNOIA).
XI.
IMMEDIATEMENT SURGISSENT TROIS DRESSES .
XII.
L'INTELLIGENCE
PUT
A
MOr!
JE
DEVINS
LE
BUDDHA.
146.
XIII . . . . ET QUE DES YEUX SANS TETE PLOTTAIENT
147·
XIV .
COMME DES MOLLUSQUES .
OANNES:
MOl,
LA PREMIERE CONSCIENCE DU
CHAOS, J'AI SURGI DE L ' ABIME POUR DURCIR LA
MATIERE, .POUR REGLER LES FORMES .
148.
XV.
VOICI LA BONNE- DEESSE, L ' IDEENNE DES MON-
TAGNES.
149·
XVI.
JE SUIS TOUJOURS LA GRANDE ISIS!
ENCORE SOULEVE MON VOILE!
NUL N ' A
MON FRUIT EST LE
SOLEIL!
150.
151.
XVII.
IL TOMBE DANS L' ABIME, LA TETE EN BAS.
XVIII.
ANTOINE:
LE DIABLE:
152.
XIX.
153·
XX .
LA VIEILLE :
NOIR!
QUEL EST LE BUT DE TOUT CELA?
IL N'Y A PAS DE BUT!
Q UE CRAINS-TU?
UN LARGE TROU
IL EST VIDE PEUT- ETRE?
LA MORT:
c'EST MOl Q UI TE RENDS SERIEUSE;
ENLA~ONS-NOUS.
154·
XXI.
. . . j'Al Q UELQUEFOIS APER~U DANS LE CIEL
COMME DES FORMES D'ESPR I TS .
J
c
NO. 13 0 .
BRUNNHILDE (cREPUSCULE DES DIEUX)
CATALOGUE
I
55.
*a. Earlier state . Before face in background
right center and form in lower left center.
Figure at left of sphinx in full light.
(H. 27o- L. 227).
b. Without letters .
c. Same in green and black ink.
d. With letters.
XXII.
.
.
. LES BETES DE LA MER RONDES COMME DES
OUT RES.
*a. Before drawing was reduced in size . Without
letters (H. 26o-L. 194).
*b. Same. Additional shading across upper portion.
c. With letters as described in Mellerio.
I)6.
XXIII.
DES PEUPLES DIVERS HABITENT LES PAYS DE
L'OCEAN.
1)7·
XXIV.
LE
JOUR
ENFIN
PARAIT, . . . ET
DISQUE MEME DU SOLEIL,
RAYONNE
DANS
LE
LA FACE DE
JESUS-cH RIST.
1)8.
I
59·
1896.
Chine applique without letters.
VIEUX CHEVALIER,
LE MOUVEMENT IDEALISTE EN PEINTURE .
A frontispiece for Le mottvement idealiste en peintttre,
by Andre Mellerio. 1896.
a. On Japan paper.
b. On chine applique.
LA MAISON HANTEE
(Six lithographs and a frontispiece for The House and
the Brain by Bulwer-Lytton, in the translation of Rene
Philipon, r896.)
The collection contains one complete set with letters
and Nos. r63 to 166 inclusive, without letters.
~
CATALOGUE
160. FRONTISPICE.
I 61. I. JE VIS DESS.PS LE CONTOUR VAPOREUX D' UNE FORME
H.UMAINE.
162.. II. .JE VIS UNE LUEUR LARGE ET PALE.
163. III. IL TENAIT SES YEUX FIXEs SUR MOl AVEC UNE EXPRESSION SI ETRANGE.
I
IV. SELON TOUTE APPARENCE, c'ETAIT UNE MAIN DE
CHAIR ET DE SANG COMME LA MIENNE.
!6). V. DES LARVES SI HIDEUSES.
166. VI. LA LARGEUR DE L'APLATISSEMENT DE L'os
FRONTAL.
167. LA SULAMITE. 1897.
I68. BEATRICE. 1897·
Without letters in color on chine applique.
169. TETE D' ENFANT AVEC FLEURS. 1897,
*a . Earlier state. Much of final work only suggested. On chine volant (H. 317-L. 2.45).
b. Marked "premier etat'' by Redon. On chine
volant ( H. 2.92.-L. 2.45).
c. Same on green paper.
d . As described in Mellerio. Monochrome.
e. Same. Black ink.
170. ARI. 1898.
Portrait of Redon's son at the age of ten years.
*a. Proof before letters.
b. rst State.-In black on yellow paper.
c. znd State.
171. HOMME SUR PEGASE. 1898.
a. On chine applique.
b. On Japan paper.
I 72.. LE SOMMEIL.
The a-rtist thought this plate ought to have been
called: Sulamite.
CATALOGUE
43
APOCALYPSE DE SAINT-JEAN
(An album of twelve lithographs and a frontispiece,
1899·)
173. COUVERTURE-FRONTISPICE.
a. Before letters lower center.
b. With letters lower center.
174· I. ET IL AVAIT DANS SA MAIN DROITE SEPT ETOILES,
ET DE SA BOUCHE SORTAIT UNE EPEE AIGUE A D EUX
TRANCHANTS.
*a. Without letters. Before rays from hilt of
sword.
b. With letters .
175.
II.
PUIS JE VIS, DANS LA MAIN DROITE DE CELUI QUI
ETAIT ASSIS SUR LE TRONE, UN LIVRE ECRIT DEDANS
ET DEHORS, SCELLE DE SEPT SCEAUX.
Without letters.
176.
III. . . . ET CELU I QUI ETAIT MONTE DESSUS SE NOMMAlT LA MORT.
Without letters, before monogram.
177·
PUIS L'ANGE PRIT L'ENCENSOIR.
178.
V.
Without letters.
ET IL TOMBE DU CIEL UNE GRANDE ETOILE AR-
D E NTE.
*a . Before additional horizontal lines at bottom
and interlaced monogram at right . Face
in upper left not defined. Locust upper
right not finished; without letters.
b. As described in Mellerio, without letters.
179·
VI.
180.
VII.
. • • UNE FEMME REVETUE DU SOLEIL.
Without letters .
ET UN ANGE SORTIT DU TEMPLE QUI EST AU CIEL,
AYANT LUI AUSSI UNE FAUCILLE TRANCHANTE.
Without letters and monogram.
NO .
196.
PORTRAIT DE ROGER MARX
CATALOGUE
181.
VIII.
45
APREs CELA JE VIS DESCENDRE DU CIEL UN ANGE
QUI AVAIT LA CLEF DE L'ABIME, E T U NE GRANDE
CHAINE EN SA MAIN.
Without letters.
182..
IX . . . . ET LE LIA POUR MILLE ANS .
183 .
X.
Without letters.
ET LE DIABLE QUI LES SEDUISAIT, FUT JETE DANS
L'ETANG DE FEU ET DE SOUFRE, OU EST LA BETE ET
LE FAUX PROPHETE.
With letters.
184.
XI.
ET MOl, JEAN, JE VIS LA SAINTE CITE,
VELLE
JERUSALEM,
QUI
LA NOU-
DESCENDAIT
DU
CI E L,
D'AUPREs DE DIEU .
Without letters and monogram.
18).
XII.
c'EsT MOl, JEAN, QUI AI VU ET QUI AI QUI CES
CHOSES.
With letters.
PLANCHES D'ESSAI
(Four trial plates executed in 19oo; one plate lost .)
186.
I.
187.
II .
FEMME DE .PROFIL VERS LA GAUCHE.
188.
III.
.A GAUCHE,
EN BAS, UNE TETE D'ENFANT.
UNE FEMME TOURNEE VERS LA GAUCHE .
SON
LONG CORPS MINCE REJETTE LE BUSTE EN ARRIERE,
FAISANT SAILLIR
LA POITRINE
EN
UNE
COURBE
GRACIE USE.
189.
TETE DE FEMME AVEC FLEURS AU CORSAGE.
a.
On grey paper.
b.
From canceled stone.
1900.
PORTRAITS
190.
EDOUARD VUILLARD.
*a.
1900.
Earlier state on heavy cream paper before
heavier lines on forehead and beard.
b.
As described in Mellerio.
CATALOGUE
191. PIERRE BONNARD. 1902..
*a. Earlier state on heavy cream paper.
b. As described in Mellerio.
192.. PAUL SI!RUSIER. 1903
a. As described in Mellerio.
b. Bistre on grey paper.
193. MAURICE DENIS. 1903.
a. As described in Mellerio.
b. Same as chine volant.
194· RICARDO VINES. 1903.
*a. Earlier state on heavy cream paper before
slight changes in shading.
*b. Same. Bistre on green paper.
c. As described in Mellerio.
195· MLLE. JULIETTE DODU. 1904a. Trial proof in black on chine volant .
b. As described in Mellerio.
c. Same. Sanguine .
196. ROGER MARX . 1904 (illustrated p. 44).
197· LLOBET. 1908.
0
LES FLEURS DU MAL
(Nine designs interpreting the poems of Charles
Baudelaire. Bruxelles, Dema.n. 1890, by the Evely
process on copper.),
198". I. COUVERTURE-FRONTISPICE.
199· II. JE T'ADORE A L'EGAL DE LA VOUTE NOCTURNE, 0
VASE DE TRISTESSE, 0 GRANDE TACITURNE.
2.00. III. PARFOIS ON TROUVE UN VIEUX FLACON QUI SE
SOUVIENT, D'ou JAILLIT TOUTE VIVE UNE AME QUI
REVIENT.
2.01. IV. Sl PAR UNE NUIT LOURDE ET SOMBRE, UN BON
CHRETIEN, PAR CHARITJ'> , DERRIERE QUELQUE VIEUX
DECOMBRE, ENTERRE VOTRE CORPS VOtlTE.
CATALOGUE
2.02..
v.
2.03 .
VI.
47
VOLUPTE. FANTOME ELASTIQUE!
SUR LE FOND DE NOS NUITS DIEU DE SON DOIGT
SAVANT DESSINE UN CAUCHEMAR MULTIFORME ET
SANS TREVE.
2.04 .
VII .
2.05 .
VIII.
SANS CESSE
A MES COTEs s 'AGITE LE DEMON .
GLOIRE ET LOUANGE
A
TOI, SATAN, DANS LES
HAUTEURS DU CIEL OU TU REGNAS, ET DANS LES
PROFONDEURS DE L'ENFER OU, VAINCU, TU REVES
E N SILENCE!
2.06.
IX .
CUL-DE-LAMPE
w6bis.-Le portrait de Redan par lui-meme. (Evely's
process). Mentioned in note on page 102., Mellerio.