Odilon Redon as a visual artist was one of the most important forerunners of modernism, and above all Surrealism. He received his education in Bordeaux, rapidly showing talent in many art forms: he studied drawing, attempted unsuccessfully to become an architect, and he also became an accomplished violinist. He also developed a keen interest in contemporary literature. After a discouraging experience studying academic painting in Paris, Redon returned to Bordeaux, where he learnt engraving and etching from his friend Rodolph Bresdin. Later, returning to Paris, he tried lithography, soon discovering that the unique qualities of this technique enabled him to achieve infinite gradations of tone, fine-line drawing, and rich depictions of light and dark. During his lifetime, Redon made close to thirty etchings and two hundred lithographs, working almost exclusively in black and white. He became a celebrated figure in fin-de-siècle Paris, greatly admired by artists and writers of the Symbolist movement with whom he shared an enthusiasm for the fantastic, mystical, and sublime forces found beneath the surface of everyday life. |
