“(b Bordeaux, 20 Apr. 1840; d Paris, 6 July 1916).

French painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, one of the outstanding figures of Symbolism. He led a retiring life, first in his native Bordeaux, then from 1870 in Paris, and until he was in his fifties he worked almost exclusively in black and white—in charcoal drawings and lithographs. In these he developed a highly distinctive repertoire of weird subjects— strange amoeboid creatures, insects, and plants with human heads and so on, influenced by the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. He remained virtually unknown to the public until the publication of J. K. Huysmans’s celebrated novel A rebours in 1884: the book’s hero, a disenchanted aristocrat who lives in a private world of perverse delights, collects Redon’s drawings, and with his mention in this classic expression of decadence, Redon too became a figurehead of the movement.

During the 1890s he turned to painting and revealed remarkable powers as a colourist that had previously lain dormant. Much of his early life had been unhappy, but after undergoing a religious crisis in the early 1890s and a serious illness in 1894–5, he was transformed into a much more buoyant and cheerful personality, expressing himself in radiant colours in visionary subjects, flower paintings, and mythological scenes (the Chariot of Apollo was one of his favourite themes). He showed equal facility in oils and pastel and after 1900 he carried out a number of large decorative schemes. His flower pieces, in particular, were much admired by Matisse, and the Surrealists regarded Redon as one of their precursors. By the end of his life he was a distinguished figure, although still a very private person.”

Chilvers, I.Redon, Odilon.In  (Ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists.: Oxford University Press,. Retrieved 25 Mar. 2019, from http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191782763.001.0001/acref-9780191782763-e-2041.

I have looked at a range of work by Redon, consulting in particular:

• Bridgeman Education Library
• Odilon Redon (1985), Galerie des Beaux-Arts (all in French!! – which has considerably tested my recall of schoolgirl French from over 40 years ago…)
• Leeman, F (undated?): Odilon Redon and Emile Bernard – Masterpieces from the Andries Bonger Collection. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Wanders Publishers, Zwolle

His earlier work in particular shows very strong tonal contrasts, often placing a figure in half-light, before a dark shaded area adjacent to a bright feature, e.g.

Landscape, two figures, c.1880-1881, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

La foret enchantee, 1870

Bordeaux, Musee des Beaux-Arts

The effect of the dark background in both these pictures imparts a slightly sinister feel – one is made to wonder what is hiding in the shadows.

He also did several pictures which seemed to be looking through a window, with a dark sombre interior contrasted with what seems a dazzling exterior – as if the gloom inside is in tension with the bright hope of the exterior. He also sets people against a window, making it appear as if they are ghostly,  trapped in some way inside.

Le Jour, 1891

Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes

The thinker at the window, drawing in the style of Goya, 1878

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

A review in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol 42, Nos 1 & 2, Fall-Winter 2013-14 of an article by Dario Gamboni: The Brush and the Pen: Odilon Redon and Literature, draws attention to a remark by Gamboni about an unconscious slip in Redon’s early writings, where he puts “peine ombre” (meaning “sorrow shadow”) where he meant “penombre” (meaning twilight or darkness), and suggests that this slip reveals Redon’s painful associations with the shadows in his earlier works.

I made a small slideshow on the Bridgeman Education library with a couple more examples of the points above, plus one of his later flower paintings – even here he often uses dramatic contrasts in tone – this one has a very dark background, making the light tones of the yellow flowers positively “zing” with excitement. I made it public, so am hoping it can be seen at:

Slideshow created on March 25th at 6:15pm

Bridgeman Education Slideshow: Redon’s use of tone

A Pitcher of Flowers Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)

Primitive Man, 1872 (charcoal, black chalk, stumping, wiping & erasing, with white & ochre gouache on paper)

Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)

Lumiere, 1893 (litho) Redon, Odilon (1840-1916)

Scott Russell has worked as an artist in Tavistock for several years; he runs a number of life drawing classes which colleagues at the art group have attended and recommended. His work can be seen at https://cargo-collective.com/scottrussell/About-Scott-Russell.

            He began by demonstrating how to tackle a life picture in oils, but members were free to use any media they like, and of course, I chose drawing. He gave several useful tips on (a) oil painting, and (b) placement within the drawing of features and body parts (e.g. corner of mouth leads up to centre of eye) – see notes in A3 sketchbook for this.

            Two particular things apart from that that I wanted to record here:

(i)  Scott is someone who likes to get over the fear of a blank page by big, sweeping movements, and has some words of advice about freeing up:

• Failure is a part of the process
• Let the viewer do some work – makes it more interesting for them
• Relax and paint how you want to paint
• Push yourself – surprise yourself – discover
• Look back at the subject for clues all the time – it’s like a detective game

(ii)  Talking to another member, they recommended watching and working through RA online life drawing classes – NEED TO DO!

• His website is at www.jameslewisart.co.uk
• He is self-taught – he started by looking at the paintings of local artist Alan Kingwell – see www.alankingwell.co.uk– and copying them. By doing this he learned how to create an image, and he gradually developed his own style. 
• He looks to convey movement and light
• See A5 sketchbook 1 for detailed notes on colours and techniques used

Demonstration image created:

The thing which struck me most about his demonstration was the care and hours he has clearly spent in observing a difficult subject, moving water. He did not paint from a reference photo; it came out of his head onto a blank canvas. He was very clear on how he wanted colour gradations, light direction and shadow and highlights. I know I am very reliant at the moment on having an object, person or scene in front of me from which to draw – I need to work a lot more on looking around me more carefully and analyse what I am seeing so that I can generalise and hence invent realistically as he has.

Katy began with a brief history of colour.

• Until the 17^thcentury, there was a 4-colour theory from which all other colours were allegedly derived: black, white, red and yellow (no blue) – this fell in with the pattern of the times where lots of things were supposed to go in fours e.g. the humours.
• In 1664 the scientist Robert Boyle wrote his “Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours”, which said that the 5 basic colours were black, white, red, blue and yellow
• “Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour” (current edition 2018, pub by Natural History Museum) was handed round – the original edition (1814) was taken by Darwin on the Beagle to help him with identification of exact hues on the animals and plants he found
• Colours have been demonstrated to affect our mood. An experiment by Baker and Miller (in charge of a prison in Seattle) was carried out, whereby they painted a holding cell in the prison in pink and found that violence disappeared – this became known as Baker-Miller Pink.
• In the late 18^thcentury, Indian yellow became available. In 1883, Joseph Hooker investigated its origins, and found out that it was basically boiled urine of cows from Bengal who were fed on mango leaves.
• Ultramarine blue was originally made from lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and was very expensive. People began to use a cheaper alternative – smot- made from cobalt ground glass – but this was less good as it eventually fades to an orangey-yellow.
• In 1512, the colour orange stopped being called yellow-red with the advent of actual oranges from abroad.
• Purple was produced from rotting shellfish – it was a long process and therefore very expensive.
• In 1853, about half of hospital admissions were for ague; the treatment for this was quinine, but again, this was very expensive, and a Professor von Hoffman set his student, William Perkin, to find a cheaper alternative. He researched with coal tar, and unexpectedly ended up with a flask of bright purple liquid (aniline dye) – this was the first synthetic dye.
• Brown dye appeared on the market from Egypt – called Mummy (literally….)
• The blackest manufactured black is Vantablack (developed by Surrey NanoSystems in the UK), absorbing 99.96% of visible light. It is not readily available, however, as it has been licensed to Anish Kapoor.

Katy went on to demonstrate the dyeing process she uses (with Procion MX dyes in an alkaline environment created by soda-ash).

She had made the point beforehand that it matters which hues you choose when mixing colours, and went on to create a very pleasing colour wheel by mixing magenta, cerulean and lemon yellow in various proportions.

She dyes fabrics and thread, both of which she sells, and belong to the Embroiderers’ Guild – she is currently involved in designing and creating works for the National Trust depicting the history of Cotehele House in Cornwall.