In 1879, Odilon Redon published his first albums of lithographs. At that time, his work was dominated by 'black': in his charcoal and pencil drawings and his lithographs, he explored the intensity of tones of the colour black. Redon himself wrote: 'These strange lithographs, often sombre, dark and with an unattractive appearance, refer to the spirit of silence'. After 1899, Redon exchanged the monochrome graphics for a multicoloured universe that remained permeated by a mysterious animus. The lithograph The Old Knight from 1896 is part of the last series of works in black. Around that time, we no longer find the monstrous creatures that he borrowed from Japanese art and Goya's Capriccios in his earlier work. From then on, Redon put the search for the ideal beauty first. The knight, seen in profile, turns away from the clear zone in the depth where the silhouette of a naked woman emerges, with a sphinx beside her. Here, the woman symbolises carnal love and the sphinx (probably) foreign religions. This strange, poetic evocation has its origins in the world of Maurice Maeterlinck, but also in that of La tentation de Saint Antoine by Gustave Flaubert, for which Redon published a series of etchings in the same year. The use of lithographic black in The Old Knight gives the print a velvety character.
| Artist |
Odilon Redon
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
|
Florentin Blanchard
|
|
|
Ambroise Vollard
|
|
| Title | The Old Knight |
| Date | 1896 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Location |
France
TGN
Paris TGN |
| Medium and support | lithography AAT |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | lithographs AAT |
| Inventory number | 2009-AH |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Galerie Paul Prouté Paris 2009 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2009-AH |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/5816/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300189808
figures (representations)
AAT
300055865 Symbolism (artistic concept) AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
25HH
landscapes - HH - ideal landscapes
Iconclass
31A45231 sphinx (lion/woman); 'Sfinge' (Ripa) Iconclass 31A71 male sex; man Iconclass 31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass 31AA the (nude) human figure; 'Corpo humano' (Ripa) - AA - female human figure Iconclass 31D120 Youth, Adolescence, 'Iuventus'; 'Adolescenza', 'Gioventu' (Ripa) Iconclass 31D13 adolescent, young woman, maiden Iconclass 31D14 adult man Iconclass 31D16 old man Iconclass 46A124 knight Iconclass |
| School / Style |
Symbolism (artistic concept)
AAT
phantasy |
| The Etchings of Odilon Redon : A Catalogue Raisonné / Sharon R. Harrison, Peter Morse. - New York City : Da Capo Press, 1986 |
| Odilon Redon : Les Estampes = The Graphic Work ; Catalogue Raisonné / Alan Hyman, André Mellerio. - San Francisco : Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 2001 (nr. 158) |
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