Pictures of the Month | April 2010
Picture of the Month
April 2010
The Crucifixion c.1904
Odilon Redon (1840-1916)
“Christ hung there, a formidable figure, on his cross, a half-trimmed branch fastened to an upright and bending like a bow under the weight of his body...... this blood-splattered, tear-stained Calvary.”
(La-Bàs, 1891)
These words are taken from a decadent satanic novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907). They form part of a gruesome description of an altarpiece Crucifixion (1526, Karlsruhe Gallery) by the mysterious German artist Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528). The latter painting shows Mary and St John mourning at the cross, and is characteristic of this idiosyncratic Renaissance master by being expressively harrowing, bitter and raw. In about 1904, it was Huysmans’s potent text that inspired Redon to pursue his own interpretation of Grünewald’s distressing scene.
Redon was born to a wealthy family in Bordeaux, France. While he was not able to seriously pursue his artistic vocation until after the Franco-Prussian War, from 1871 he became a prominent member of cultural avant-garde circles in Paris. Here, he first attracted attention with strange, black-and-white drawings he called his Noirs. By the 1880s, this group of artists and writers, such as Huysmans, Stéphane Mallarmé (1842–1898), and Jean Moréas (1856 - 1910), became known as the Symbolists. They rejected traditional, every-day narratives and familiar subject matter, instead embracing the occult world of dreams, emotions and the imagination. The Symbolists did not simply want to tell a story or represent reality, but wished to arouse particular states of mind through highly subjective imagery and artistic styles.
In the early years of the 20th century Redon produced many vividly coloured pastels and oils, such as the Barber’s Crucifixion - a rare example of the artist directly studying an old master. Grünewald’s grieving figures are here represented as shimmering ghostly forms, hovering like mourning shadows and creating an eery, dream-like aura. Redon substitutes Grünewald’s unforgiving realism with his unique use of red, evoking bloody brutality and agonised suffering. This emotive use of colour marks him as an important precursor to modern art movements, such as Expressionism.
One of few works by Redon in Britain, The Crucifixion is a fitting and highly moving picture to contemplate in the month of Easter.
Kathryn Murray
Redon’s The Crucifixion is currently on display in the Blue Gallery. It will be the focus of a free Lunchtime Gallery Talk on Thursday, 22 April at 1.30 pm. With Audio Visual Description for the partially sighted
| What is your favourite work of art in the Barber Institute galleries? Drop us a line at info@barber.org.uk and let us know, and we could feature your choice in a future Picture of the Month. |