Flowers

Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916)
Vase of Flowers, c.1905
oil on fabric
73cm x 59cm
Cleveland Museum of Art
image: http://www.clemusart.com/explore/work.asp?location=14320&recNo=1&tab=2&display=


Another work that I enjoyed discovering at the Cleveland Museum of Art last week. Odilon Redon is more commonly known for dark drawings and lithographs. Redon was a prominent Symbolist. He was inspired by emotions and imagination, strange subjects infusing his work. Later in his career he began to paint and proved to have a wonderful eye for color. The colors of this painting are what drew me to it, the warmth of the orange red predominate and soak you in while bits of cooler blues and whites pop to add to a brightness in the work.

The Lady on the Horse

The Lady on the Horse, ca. 1900-01
Alfred KUBIN (1877-1959), Austrian

Pen and ink, wash, and spray on paper.
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Kubin-Archiv

I discovered a new artist yesterday. Alfred Kubin, in the ranks of the odd and strange (Dali, Bosch, Goya, Ernst...) Currently, the focus of a show at the Neue Galerie in New York, Kubin's drawings are nightmarish, creepy, symbolic, intriguing and fantastical. Created predominately with pen and ink and wash, they elicit the strangeness of the psyche (Kubin began his career soon after Freud's Interpretation of Dreams was published)

Thematically linked to Odilon Redon and Max Klinger, all were heavy into literature which infused their creative work. Kubin also did illustration for works by Poe and more.

NY Times slide show of some of Kubin's drawings

Have a fantastic weekend! Christmas is coming!