Artist Research: Odilon Redon’s ‘Buddha’

 Odilon Redon had initially caught my interest for this research due to his significance as a symbolist artist working with abstract shapes and context, but further into my research I have learned that he was one of the first to introduce Buddhism– Buddha in himself more specifically– into the Western art environment. He was also iconic for his openness to different mediums and techniques, moving on from monochrome works to colour and integrating different art styles such as Japonism to his works. 

Le Buddha, 1895

 Like many of Redon’s other works, his first work of Buddha was a monochrome lithograph with an almost sinister look compared to many of Asian depictions of Buddha. This art style is dominant throughout his works in the 1870s to 1880s, where in the 1870s he was required to join the army to fight against the Franco-Prussian war. The war in itself must have been influential to his mindset and art of Redon, but the defeat and the chaos left behind by the war may have had big influence on how he views the world. Instead of a peaceful look on the Buddha, he now looks punishing and like a judge to the viewers, with a halo-like object lighting up the darkness and a sphere which seems to suck in the light around them, which I believe may be influenced by the depiction and domination of Catholicism in France. 

 As mentioned above, many of Redon’s initial works were black lithographs or charcoals, to which Redon described as ‘Noir’, as he was taught by another famous lithographer, etcher, and monochrome artist Rodolphe Bresdin before he joined the war (Odilon Redon Organisation, 2017; Zahra, 2016). Bresdin was iconic for extremely fine details, making each lithograph picture-like, however Redon has taken this style to emphasise the etching marks to create his own style. He even went onto create unrealistic environments in contrast to his teacher. 

Buddha, 1904

 In his later years, Redon has integrated colour into his works and have developed a much peaceful style compared to his early works, seemingly coming into terms and making peace after the war. In this case, in the early 1900s, he was still experimenting with his colouration and techniques in integrating colour so they have an overall fogginess and ‘mistiness’ with some emphasised colour points. His works during this time are very vivid, with a faint background and a specific focal points, but I believe the current style captured the image of Buddha in peace very well. It is also notable that he had integrated worldly materials– trees, flowers and such– with Buddha when it was common in Asian works to depict Buddha with no earthly materials (except lotus and water, which is symbolistic in Buddhism). As Redon has made peace within himself, it feels almost as if he has integrated a part of himself to his depiction with Buddha as one with the earth and nature. 

 One technique to note of in this work is his use of distemper paint to recreate the look of fresco paintings, which is a technique where water-based paint is put on wet cement or plaster to create a thick and vibrant colouration. Redon uses this material to his advantage to create the vividness of the work and the emphasised vibrant colour of his works, which later on creates the iconic vibrant red uses in his works.

Buddha Walking Among Flowers, 1905

The Buddha, 1905

 Around the middle of 1900s to late 1900s is where Redon properly established his use of colours, with the aforementioned use of vibrant reds and vivid backgrounds. The marks that he has used for lithographies have been transferred onto his colour works, so there are finer details with etches and almost pointillistic details which makes his work detailed, abstract yet still dominant. 

 Redon has done significant works to integrate Asian beliefs in a Western context, combining the Earthly and the spiritual for a visually pleasing and symbolistic work. Since my major project plan involves making different abstract illustration covers that involve both spiritualism of Buddhism and Earth, I have analysed Redon to identify how Redon learned to compose a progressively peaceful work compared to the beginning and how I can reverse such technique to emphasise my topic of the issues around the world. Additionally, since I will be utilising the abstraction techniques of Penny Siopis, whose work mainly has the properties of fluid art and therefore does not include brush strokes, I aimed to add more details using the etching techniques of Redon to give more detail and a ‘human touch’ to my works.

References:

Redon, O. (1895) Le Buddha [Online Image] Available at: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/prints/collection/p1078V2000 (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

Redon, O. (1904) Buddha [Online Image] Available at: https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0465N1996 (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

Redon, O. (1905) The Buddha [Online Image] Available at: https://visualmelt.com/Odilon-Redon (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

Redon, O. (1905) Buddha Walking Among Flowers [Online Image] Available at: https://visualmelt.com/Odilon-Redon (Accessed: 14 February 2023).

Zahra, O. (2016) Spotlight Essay: Odilon Redon, Kemper Art Museum. Washington University in St. Louis. Available at: https://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/node/11220 (Accessed: February 14, 2023). 

Fresco (no date) National Galleries Scotland. Available at: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/glossary-terms/fresco (Accessed: February 14, 2023).

Odilon Redon (no date) The Art Story. Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/redon-odilon/ (Accessed: February 14, 2023).

Odilon Redon (no date) Visual Melt. Available at: https://visualmelt.com/Odilon-Redon (Accessed: February 14, 2023). 

Odilon Redon Biography in Details (no date) Odilon Redon Organisation. Available at: https://www.odilon-redon.org/biography.html (Accessed: February 14, 2023).

The Buddha Calling the Buddha, by Kinrei Bassis (2015) PARABOLA. Available at: https://parabola.org/2015/09/12/the-buddha-calling-the-buddha-by-kinrei-bassis/ (Accessed: February 14, 2023).