Odilon Redon

Armand Parent, Paris (acquired circa 1920)
Zaidee B. Goodyear, Virginia
Cornelius N. Bliss, Darlington, Maryland
Mrs. Cornelius N. Bliss, New York (acquired from the above circa 1928)
Private Collection, New York (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby’s, New York, November 13, 1997, lot 241)
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Barbazanges, Exposition retrospective d’oeuvres d’Odilon Redon (1840-1916), 1920, no. 92 (titled Fleurs)
Paris, Galerie Druet, Exposition d’oeuvres d’Odilon Redon (1840-1916), peintures, pastels, aquarelles, dessins, lithographies, eaux-fortes, art décoratif, 1923, no. 40 (titled Vase de fleurs)
New York, De Hauke & Co., Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Drawings, Watercolours, Lithographs by Odilon Redon, 1928, no. 17 (titled Vase de fleurs)
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of Paintings, Pastels and Drawings by Odilon Redon (1840-1916), 1928-29, no. 2
New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Exhibition of Fruit and Flower Paintings, 1933, n.n.

Alec Wildenstein, Odilon Redon: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint et dessiné, Fleurs et paysages, vol. III, Paris, 1996, no. 1576, illustrated p. 146

Work is in excellent condition. The canvas is backed with linen but the two pieces do not appear to be adhered. Surface is clean with a wonderful dry surface. Under UV light: no inpainting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Anémones is an exquisite example of Odilon Redon's celebrated floral still lifes, the hallmark of the artist's production. Redon's bouquets have always been highly coveted. In 1905, his friend and patron Arthur Fontaine noted how hard it had already become to acquire one of the master's floral depictions, which had immediately aroused keen interest among dealers and collectors. Anémones boasts a rich exhibition history and impeccable provenance, having first belonged to a close friend of Redon's, the prodigious Belgian musician Armand Parent (see fig. 1), renowned for having taught violin to Henri Matisse.   Redon first explored botanical themes in the 1860s, but flowers became the main object of his artistic endeavors at the turn of the century. In 1907, the poet Francis Jammes compared Redon's atelier to a "marvelous garden", where one could "smell the fragrance of each petal" (quoted in Roseline Bacou, Odilon Redon, Geneva, 1956, p. 267). Redon's mature penchant for rendering sumptuous bouquets in oil and pastel coincides with the painter's transition towards a world of light and color, a liberation after years of dark visions embodied in his charcoal drawings, the pervasive Noirs. As Alec Wildenstein notes, "the flowers marked the end of the nightmare, the end of the Noirs" (Alec Wildenstein, op. cit., p. 6).                                                                  

Redon's fascination with the infinite richness of the botanical world can be traced back to the influence of one of his earliest mentors, the scientist Armand Clavaud. Frequent trips to the countryside and numerous visits to botanical gardens, such as the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, prompted the artist to cultivate a lush garden of his own at his summer residence in Bièvres. Redon would often draw on lavish compositions of flowers from his backyard, freshly picked and lovingly assembled for him by his wife Camille, as recalled by their son Arï (Arï Redon, “Odilon dans l'intimité” in La Revue des Arts, vol. III, Paris, 1956, p. 131).

A naturalistic approach did captivate Redon to some extent, yet the main endeavor of this father of Symbolism was to evoke the essence of what he was representing. In true Mallarmian fashion, he sought to unlock suggestions and associations. Some flowers were preferred over others. With its pitch-black mound of pistils and its round crown of petals, it is no wonder that the eye-like anemone would have been of particular appeal to Redon, calling to mind some of the dreamlike shapes first explored in the Noirs (see fig. 2). The Surrealist artist André Masson commented on this oneiric quality: "Even Redon's most reassuring bouquets suddenly will tear through their apparent repose, become astral vertigo, spurt and decline—a mystery" (quoted in Jodi Hauptman, Beyond the Visible. The Art of Odilon Redon (exhibition catalogue), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2005, p. 43).

To engage the viewer, Redon sets off the flowers against a flat, neutral background bathed in iridescent light, a stylistic decision influenced by Japanese woodblocks and screens. This remarkable economy of means takes the image to the brink of abstraction, while a shimmering halo enhances the bouquet's burst of pure colors. Redon masterfully turns a depiction of anemones into a vibrant homage to painting, pigment, and purity of means. With his "flowers of vision," a term coined by the poet Julien Green, Redon reveals himself as the worthy heir of earlier master colorists such as Delacroix whom he revered (see fig. 3) and as a forerunner of many artistic tendencies which would blossom in the twentieth century, such as fauvism and lyrical abstraction.