Les Noirs
Redon’s choice of ‘toned’ lithographs, printed with abundant black ink, is closely connected with his preference for dark subjects such as monsters and fantasy figures. Their jet-black shadows earned these works the nickname ‘Les Noirs’, in which the artist used the interplay of light and darkness to evoke a mystical atmosphere.
In later years, after he had settled down to the stability and contentment of family life, he found he was no longer able to work in black, although he did produce a few colour lithographs. The serene Child's Head with Flowers is surrounded by light, pastel colours.
Drawing, scratching, and colouring
Redon worked on transfer paper, from which the composition could be transposed to a lithographic stone. It meant that the artist did not have to worry about the complex technical process but could draw freely.
Once the drawing had been transferred to the stone, he continued to work on it, including scratching away white lines (grattage). Redon produced limited editions and for Child's Head with Flowers, he even hand coloured several impressions, making each one a unique work of art.
Odilon Redon, Obsession (Hantise), 1894
Odilon Redon, Wing (L'aile), 1893
Odilon Redon, Child's Head with Flowers (Tête d'enfant avec fleurs), 1897
Further reading
- Ted Gott, The Enchanted Stone: The Graphic Worlds of Odilon Redon, Victoria 1990
- J.-K. Huysmans, L’art moderne, Paris 1883
- William S. Lieberman and Odilon Redon, ‘Redon: Drawings and Lithographs’, The Bulletin of the Museum of Modern Art 19 (1952), no. 2, pp. 3-15