Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was a French painter and printmaker. He started drawing in his early childhood but later on switched to architecture which he failed. At the end of the Franco-Prussian war he moved to Paris and started working in charcoal and lithography. He called his works his “noirs” which he worked on up until 1900, including “Two trees” (“Deux arbres” charcoal on paper, 1875.) When I first saw the image I remember thinking how striking familiar it was. If you ever been wandering at the edge of the forest just before sunset you saw it, too. The deep dark entry between the trees with sinister glow. Mesmerized by your own fantasy world about eerie nocturnal animals and ghosts – all the night-in-the-forest clichés – you still don’t know if Arthur Rackham’s fairies will peep out from the dark or your worst nightmare? This work is really great example of the symbolism. “Place the visible at the service of the invisible” – as he himself wanted.
He used charcoal on paper. There are cross hatched marks, fine lines and frottage-like dots at the base of the standing tree what gives very rich and different shades. He also uses shades – no significant contour lines – to make the trees “coming alive”. The ground beautifully lit up and a front of a standing tree, too – giving even deeper contrast with the darker tones. I was not familiar with the artist up until now but during the research I found some works (especially his “noirs”) remind me of Goya’s Black Paintings in the sense of haunting intensity. For my pleasant surprise I actually found out that he admired the Spanish painter, see the six lithographs “Homage to Goya”.
LaraDraw 