Odilon Redon

1.5.19

Odilon Redon

(https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon/not_detected_248077)

Odilon’s ‘noires’ seem to have a story to each, and it is for the viewer to interpret. The characters, action and compositions give rise to so many wonderings.

In this artwork Odilon used a broad band of dark tone across the centre of the artwork. This tone occupies the mid and background of the picture. The marks for this go in many different directions in short bursts of hatching, and gradually lighten as they move from left to right. The dark band is broken in the centre by an object which appears gently from the right and then looms more protectively and with a prescence into the centre of the picture. It has facetted planes, emphasized by the way Odilin has shaded them and although resembling a rock it has the essence of a head with an eye and mouth. A snake perhaps? It does not look menacing though and underneath, as if protecting her in particular, is a semi-naked woman draped only in a flimsy, transparent veil-like cloak, wearing a hat. She is pale, unearthly, and ghostly looking and hangs her head as if in shame. Her arm is outstretched reaching towards the rock. What is Odilon telling us in that? It is obviously a key component of the artwork as it is referred to in the title. Is she reaching to ‘thank’ the rock, to be reassured that it is still there or to say, ‘leave me, I don’t deserve your protection’, or something else?

Her whiteness is striking. Is it a virginal reference or a spiritual one of some kind? Despite being under the rock, the woman is not cast in any shadow. The light almost shines out from her. She is radiant, casting the foreground infront of her in brightness. This lightness is in contrast to the hint of lightness we see in the sky in the background of the artwork which does not play a part in the light she is cast in.

Flowers reach towards her in the foreground, re-emphasising her feminineness and gentleness which effectively contrasts with a barren, stark and increasingly hostile looking environment.

Filling the sky there are and unnatural amount of birds. They are dark and black and stretch far into the distance. You sense they are flying towards her, looking for her maybe. Something is about to change. We feel her frailty and vulnerability and a sense of resignation. She is alone. The building threatening clouds with the hint of darkness suggests things are ‘brewing’ and the calm of the foreground is about to be compromised imminently. She is exposed and the sense of foreboding builds as you visually explore the picture. Things begin to look more ominous.

Primitive man seated in shadow. No date. Odilon Redon

https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon/primitive-man-seated-in-shadow

From Wikiart 3.5.19

This ‘Primitive Man’ is cowering in the shadow, hiding from the light, tucked in the darkest corner and his arms and legs are pulled in tight. His left foot tries to tuck under his right. His uncomfortable position instantly creates an uneasiness in the viewer. What is he hiding from? The ray of light seems to seek him out, highlighting his left shoulder, arm and knee. His highlit face is turned away from the light. Relected light hits the upperparts of the right side of his body. His strong, muscly form is suggested.

In the misty light at the top left of the picture, there is something the viewer can not be sure of. It seems vague, and yet something is suggested within it. Is it an eye, a repeated motif of Odilon’s other artwork? Is it, like the light, searching him out. It is an unnatural shape in this context and adds to the unease created by the artwork.

Odilon creates a broad band of variated dark tone diagonally across the picture from top left to bottom right. and yet, in this, there is enough suggestion of tone to create the idea of rocks and mountains. He uses subtle highlights and some hatching marks in the rocks to create form. The lightness of the foreground with delicate directional marks of the rocks leads the viewer to the huddled and isolated man who is in an almost fetal position… another reference to the ‘Primitive Man’ perhaps?

The artwork is mysterious, puzzling, unsettling and the figure is certainly at best uncomfortable, and perhaps even frightened of something the viewer cannot possibly anticipate. The tones, shapes and composition Odilon has chosen work well to make the viewer stop and wonder. It is a very striking image.

Both these images have many similarities. Although one is cast in light and the other, clearly hiding from the light, both artworks create a growing sense of unease and foreboding for the viewer. There is an unexplained ‘darkness’ in each context. The situations for both characters are about to change for the worse we fear. We feel empathy for the characters. They seem frail in spirit, subdued, resigned and are alone and isolated and about to encounter something supernatural, beyond the power of another human. . Odilon reinforces this not just through the subject matter and composition, but through his skilful use of tone to add more dimension to his visual stories.

References:

Redon, Odilon, (1868), Wikiart, ‘Woman with outstretched arm’. At: https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon/not_detected_248077 , accessed 1.5.2019

Redon, Odilon, (sd) Wikiart, ‘Primitive Man Seated in Shadow’. At: https://www.wikiart.org/en/odilon-redon/primitive-man-seated-in-shadow , accessed 3.5.2019