Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Odilon Redon. It dates from 1889 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Untitled is a lithograph with chine appliqué created by Odilon Redon in 1889. The print features a shadowy, winged figure emerging from a dark background.
Subject & Meaning
The figure's face is indistinct, with only a nose and mouth discernible, while its wings are rendered with rough, uneven textures. The image's ambiguity and use of darkness evoke a sense of mystery.
Technique & Style
Redon employed a range of techniques, combining smooth lines with rough textures to achieve a sketch-like effect. The lithograph's monochromatic style reflects Redon's early work, characterized by charcoal drawings and prints known as his 'noirs'.
History & Provenance
Redon was a French artist who gained recognition after his work was cited by Joris-Karl Huysmans in the 1884 novel À rebours. This print dates to Redon's early Symbolist period, before he shifted to working primarily in pastels and oils in the 1890s.
Artist & collection
Artist
Born Bertrand-Jean Redon on 20 April 1840 in Bordeaux, the artist adopted the name Odilon from his mother, Marie-Odile.
C'est le Diable
Pélerin du monde sublunaire (Pilgrim of the sublunary world)
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 en silence! (Glory and praise to you, Satan, in the heights of heaven, where you reigned, and in thedepths of hell, where, vanquished, you dream in s ilence!)
The Wing
L'Aile impuissante n'eleva point la bete en ces noirs espaces (The impotent wing did not lift the animal into that black space
And Another Angel Came Out of the Temple which is in Heaven, and He also Having a Sharp Sickle
Flowers Fall and the Head of a Python Appears
And the Devil That Deceived Them was Cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, Where the Beast and the False Prophet Are
The Chimera with Green Eyes Turns, Bays
Untitled
Le Sphynx...mon regard que rien ne peut devier, demeure tendu a travers les choses sur un horizon inaccessible. La Chimere: Moi,Je suis legere et joyeuse (The Sphinx: "My gaze, which nothing can deflect, passes through the things and remains fixed on an inaccessible horizon." The Chimera: "I am weightless and joyful")
First a Pool of Water, Then a Prostitute, the Corner of a Temple, a Soldier's Face, a Chariot with Two White, Rearing Horses