The Breadth and Flatness of the Frontal Bone - Odilon Redon
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Description
A haunting lithograph by Symbolist artist Odilon Redon, featuring a profile study from his 1883 series, Les Origines.
This lithograph, titled 'La largeur et l'aplatissement de l'os frontal', belongs to the series 'Les Origines', published in 1883. Odilon Redon, a central figure in the Symbolist movement, often explored the boundaries between the physical world and the realm of dreams or scientific curiosity. This work reflects his interest in the intersection of biology and the imagination, a theme that occupied much of his early career.
The image presents a profile view of a human head, enclosed within a delicate oval frame. Redon employs his signature charcoal-like lithographic technique to create soft, atmospheric transitions between light and shadow. The subject's features are rendered with a sense of detachment, focusing on the anatomical structure of the forehead. The title itself suggests a pseudo-scientific observation, typical of Redon's penchant for pairing enigmatic imagery with clinical or descriptive language. By isolating the head in this manner, the artist invites the viewer to consider the form as an object of study rather than a traditional portrait.
Redon's work in lithography allowed him to achieve a range of blacks and greys that define his aesthetic. The texture of the paper remains visible, contributing to the ethereal quality of the print. The composition is minimal, stripping away background detail to ensure the viewer's attention remains fixed on the subject's profile. This print demonstrates Redon's ability to imbue simple forms with a sense of mystery. It is a characteristic example of his 'noirs', the series of lithographs and charcoal drawings that established his reputation. The work remains a compelling study of form, light, and the psychological weight of the human visage.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
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To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
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Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
The Breadth and Flatness of the Frontal Bone - Odilon Redon
Artist Biography
Odilon Redon
For the first two decades of his career he worked exclusively in black: charcoal drawings and lithographs he called his noirs. Floating eyeballs, severed heads with closed lids, spiders with human faces, plants that grow teeth. The images are hallucinatory but precisely rendered, closer to medical illustration than fantasy. He published his first lithograph album, Dans le Reve, in 1879. Nobody noticed.
Recognition came sideways. In 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans published A rebours, a novel about a reclusive aesthete who decorates his rooms with Redon's prints. The book became a cult text for the Symbolist movement and Redon became famous by association. Stephane Mallarme, the Symbolist poet, became a close friend. Redon also completed a series of lithographs dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems Mallarme and Baudelaire had translated into French.
After 1900 he stopped making noirs entirely and shifted to colour: pastels and oils of flowers, mythological figures and butterflies in palettes that anticipate Matisse. The transition was so complete that the Surrealists later claimed the black work while the Fauves claimed the colour, and neither group seemed to notice they were talking about the same person.
He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is an unlikely pairing: Gerome painted Roman gladiators with photographic precision. Redon painted eyeballs attached to balloons. Goya and Delacroix were the influences that actually stuck.
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