Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon (April 22, 1840 – July 6, 1916) was a Symbolist painter, born in Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France.

Related Topics:
April 22 - 1840 - July 6 - 1916 - Symbolist painter - Bordeaux - Aquitaine - France

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Redon started drawing as a young child, and at the age of 10 he was awarded a drawing prize at school. At age 15, he began to study drawing but on the insistence of his father switched to architecture. Any career in architecture ended when he failed to pass the entrance exams at Paris? École des Beaux-Arts but eventually he studied there under Jean-Léon Gerôme (1824-1904).

Related Topics:
École des Beaux-Arts - Jean-Léon Gerôme

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Back home in his native Bordeaux, he took up sculpture, and Rodolphe Bresdin instucted him in etching and lithography.

Related Topics:
Rodolphe Bresdin - Etching - Lithography

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However, joining the army in 1870 to serve in the Franco-Prussian War interrupted his artistic career.

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At the end of the war, he moved to Paris, working almost exclusively in charcoal and lithography. It would not be until 1878 before his work gained any recognition with Guardian Spirit of the Waters, and he published his first album of lithographs, titled Dans le Rêve, in 1879. Still, Redon remained relatively unknown until the appearance in 1884 of a cult novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans titled, A rebours (Against Nature). The story featured a decadent aristocrat who collected Redon's drawings.

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In the 1890s, he began to use pastel and oils, which dominated his works for the rest of his life. In 1899, he exhibited with the Les Nabis at Durand-Ruel's.

Related Topics:
Les Nabis - Durand-Ruel's

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In 1903 he was awarded the Legion of Honor.

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His popularity increased when a catalogue of etchings and lithographs was published by André Mellerio in 1913 and that same year, he was given the largest single representation at the New York Armory Show.

Related Topics:
André Mellerio - New York - Armory Show

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In 1923 Mellerio published: Odilon Redon: Peintre Dessinateur et Graveur.

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