Sun 9/19-Sun 1/23/22
French artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) was one of a kind. He didn’t fit into any of the major art movements of the 19thand early 20th century although one can see intimations of surrealism in his work. He also worked mostly in charcoals and lithography until late in his career, mediums taken less seriously than oil painting. Like many 19th century European artists, he was influenced by the Japan-inspired Japonisme movement in his evasive, darkly dreamy work.
This week, the Cleveland Museum of Art opens a show called Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon that revolves around the museum’s surprisingly large collection of Redon’s work. On view for the first time will be his charcoal drawing “Quasimodo,” one of what he called his “noirs,” acquired by CMA last year. It will also include one of the artist’s major late paintings from 1912, “Andromeda,” on loan from the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. It was exhibited it the U.S. for the first time in 1926 at the Cleveland Museum of Art, along with other works by Redon in its collection when collecting the recently deceased under-recognized artist’s work meant going out on a limb.
“The CMA was among the first American museums to collect the work of this groundbreaking artist, and early gifts and purchases earned the museum an international reputation as the most important repository of Redon’s work outside France,” says CMA director William M. Griswold in the show’s press release. “The exhibition chronicles nearly 100 years of collecting, and we look forward to sharing these important and enigmatic works with our visitors.”
Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon will be on view through January 23, 2022.
clevelandart.org/exhibitions/collecting-dreams-odilon-redon