Frontispiece for El Moghreb al Aksa by Edmond Picard
1889
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory China paper laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image/chine: 24.4 × 18.6 cm (9 5/8 × 7 3/8 in.); Sheet: 42.3 × 31.4 cm (16 11/16 × 12 3/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79495
Art Historical Context
Odilon Redon's *Frontispiece for Eloghreb al Aksa* (1889) is a captivating lithograph created as the introductory image for Edmond Picard's travelogue about his adventures in Morocco, known as "the farthest Maghreb." This work exemplifies Redon's early mastery of Symbolism, a movement he helped pioneer in late 19th-century France. During this "noirs" period (roughly 1870–1895), Redon produced haunting, dreamlike black-and-white prints filled with ethereal visions, blending the real and the fantastical to evoke mystery and the subconscious—perfectly suiting Picard's exotic narrative of North Af...
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...