Odilon Redon

 Bertrand-Jean Redon better known as Odilon Redon 

(April 20, 1840 - July 6, 1916) 

Born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France. 

Symbolist painter and printmaker

Self Portrait - 1880 (Left)

Odilon has a background that found him flirting with Architecture , Sculpture, etching and lithography. He worked exclusively in charcoal for a period after serving in Franco-Prussian War after moving to Paris. In the 1890s, he began to use pastel and oils, which dominated his works for the rest of his life.

My Opinion

Some of the images of Odilon Redon’s that stood out for me were the ones where that featured a lot of contrast. He used light and dark areas extremely well to ensure that areas of the pictures stood out. The intensity in the 'Boat In The Moonlight' image is spectacular.

His style made sure that when you look at the works that I have picked out, your eyes are drawn directly towards the key main features within. He wasn’t afraid to leave white bright area’s on the canvas/ paper, this is something that I myself need to remember and implement within my own work. I really like the overall style of the works below - the wide range of tones found in both of the images along with his confident use of line.

I am however generally not impressed with how Odilon captured facial features in many of his pieces. With Art being subjective I guess its ok for me to say.  Many of them seem vague or even deformed - dare I suggest unconfident? I can appreciate that if an image is meant to have a more surreal or strange look to it than this is ok. This man is a great artist all the same who I respect. Would I call myself a fan?? For me his work is like Marmite, I either love it or hate it!! 

These 2 pieces I do like because of the mood and expression each has. A relaxed, soft, yet searching or wanting look, like they’re observing something we can’t see. If you look closely at the woman, you could almost imagine her watching someone from across the road while trying to remain inconspicuous.

Images found on http://www.odilon-redon.org