Provenance
Sold to Baron Robert de Domecy, Sermizelles, France, May 1893 [Chicago 1994]; by descent in the Domecy family [Wildenstein 1994]. Sold, Drouot Montaigne, Paris, June 2, 1988, lot 3bis. Rolf Weinberg, Zurich and Waring Hopkins, Paris, 1988 [Chicago 1994]. Sold by Altman-Burke, New York, to the Art Institute, 1989.
Accession Number
90808
Medium
Various charcoals, with touches of black chalk, stumping, wiping and erasing, heightened with touches of white and ocher gouache, on cream wove paper altered to a pale, golden tone
Dimensions
39.3 × 33.8 cm (15 1/2 × 13 5/16 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Credit Line
Through prior bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson
Background & Context
Background Story
Odilon Redon's Primitive Man (1872) is a charcoal drawing from his noir period, showing his fascination with the mysterious and primordial. The figure of primitive man emerges from the darkness, his features suggested rather than defined, creating a sense of ancient presence. Redon's charcoal technique is extraordinarily subtle.
Cultural Impact
Redon's noirs are among the most innovative works of 19th-century draftsmanship.
Why It Matters
This charcoal drawing captures the mystery of ancient origins with Redon's characteristic subtlety.
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And in the Very Disk of the Sun Lights the Face of Jesus Christ, plate 10 from The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1st series)
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Then There Appears a Singular Being, Having the Head of a Man On the Body of a Fish, plate 5 of 10
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Cover-Frontispiece for the Temptation of St. Anthony
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Ophelia
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