The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

He Fixed His Eyes on Me with an Expression That Was So Strange

He Fixed His Eyes on Me with an Expression That Was So Strange

1896
(French, 1840–1916)
(French, 1858–1936)
Image: 22.8 x 15.3 cm (9 x 6 in.); Sheet: 44.9 x 31.6 cm (17 11/16 x 12 7/16 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Mellerio 163
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

One of Redon's greatest patrons, the occultist René Philipon, commissioned this portfolio as a supplement for his French translation of Bulwer-Lytton's The Haunted and the Haunters.

Description

Odilon Redon was a voracious reader of contemporary literature, and such texts often influenced his art. This series was inspired by The Haunted and the Haunters, an 1859 novel by British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Redon’s prints capture the book’s mysterious tone and emphasis on the supernatural through vague but evocative imagery that sometimes borders on abstraction. By this time a seasoned expert in lithography, the artist collaborated with master printer Auguste Clot. Their combined technical skills allowed for the rich tonal variation seen here, made by turning Redon’s lithographic crayon on its side, layering various marks, and even scratching directly into the surface of his stone.
  • ?-1966
    (Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago, sold to the Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH)
    1966
    The Print Club of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    1966-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • "Year in Review." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (1967): 302-46. Mentioned: pp. 344-345 www.jstor.org
  • Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19, 2021-January 23, 2022).
    From Block Books to Baskin: Artists as Illustrators. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-August 17, 1986).
    Odilon Redon: Dream Creatures and Anemones. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 21-October 14, 1984).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=He Fixed His Eyes on Me with an Expression That Was So Strange|url=false|author=Odilon Redon, Auguste Clot|year=1896|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.413.4