He Raises the Bronze Urn, plate 4 of 10
1888
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory China paper, laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image/chine: 27.4 × 19.6 cm (10 13/16 × 7 3/4 in.); Sheet: 44.2 × 31.5 cm (17 7/16 × 12 7/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79447
Art Historical Context
Odilon Redon's *He Raises the Bronze Ur*, plate 4 from a series of 10 lithographs created in 1888, visitors into the dreamlike realm of French Symbolism. Redon, a pioneer of this late-19th-century movement, inspiration from literature, mythology, and the subconscious, crafting visions that blur reality and fantasy. This work, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, captures a mysterious figure in a moment of ritualistic gesture, evoking biblical or apocalyptic themes amid swirling, ethereal forms. Masterfully executed as a lithograph in black ink on delicate ivory...
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...