Below, I Saw the Vaporous Contours of a Human Form

The Haunted House

Below, I Saw the Vaporous Contours of a Human Form

1896

Auguste Clot

(French, 1858–1936)

France, late 19th Century

lithograph on China paper laid on wove paper

Support: China paper; wove paper

Image: 25.3 x 18.1 cm (9 15/16 x 7 1/8 in.); Sheet: 44.9 x 31.2 cm (17 11/16 x 12 5/16 in.)

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1966.413.2

Catalogue raisonné: Mellerio 161

State: I/I

Edition: edition of 60

Location: not on view

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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.