Edouard Vuillard
1900
Medium
Lithograph in black on light gray China paper laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 20 × 15.2 cm (7 7/8 × 6 in.); Chine: 23 × 19.8 cm (9 1/16 × 7 13/16 in.); Sheet: 41.8 × 32.2 cm (16 1/2 × 12 11/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79766
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This striking lithograph by Odilon Redon captures the likeness of fellow French artist Édouard Vuillard in 1900, offering a window into the vibrant artistic circles of fin-de-siècle Paris. Redon, celebrated for his Symbolist explorations of dreams and the subconscious, here turns his sensitive eye toward portraiture. The work’s intimate scale and velvety black tones on delicate China paper demonstrate lithography’s ability to convey both precision and atmospheric softness, qualities that made the medium especially appealing to artists seeking expressive printmaking alternatives to traditional drawing. Redon and Vuillard moved in overlapping artistic communities—Vuillard as a member of the Nabis group, focused on everyday intimacy, and Redon as a bridge between Impressionism and emerging modernism. This portrait reflects the mutual respect among these innovators at a moment when printmaking was gaining new artistic legitimacy. Its presence in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection underscores the museum’s commitment to preserving these nuanced records of creative friendships that shaped early twentieth-century art.
About the Artist
Odilon Redon · 1840–1916
Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was a French Symbolist painter, printmaker, and pastellist whose visionary art bridged the 19th-century Symbolist movement and 20th-century Surrealism. Born Bertrand Redon in Bordeaux on April 20, 1840, he earned the nickname "Odilon" from his mother Odile. His father, who made his fortune in the Louisiana slave trade, conceived Odilon in New Orleans before the family retu...