Woman Amid Flowers, 1909 - 1910
Closed Eyes, 1890
The Green Death, 1905 - 1910
Inclined Female Head, around 1910
Portrait of Madame Redon with a Yellow Scarf, 1890
Portrait of Marie Botkin, 1900
The Dream, around 1912
The Cyclops, 1898 
Eve, 1904
The Japanese Warrior Vase, 1905 - 1908 Some images from the book Odilon Redon by Jean Selz.
Selz writes:
Of all the painters whose secrets are known to us, Odilon was the one who experienced the greatest difficulty - or used the greatest discretion - in explaining his painting. However, he formulated a lucid definition of his art by saying that it consisted of putting "the logic of the visible at the service of the invisible." His work does in fact occupy a place between sight and vision.
How torturous it is to write an artist statement. I'm interested in this comment of Salz's regarding Redon's tremendous difficulty in explaining his own art, because it was an act of great discretion. What do we tell people about our work? Are artist statements even necessary?
3 comments:
Good question! I ALWAYS have difficulty writing up an artist statement--yet, I do like to hear what other artists think about their own paintings--a bit of an explanation to soothe the left side of the brain.
here is a comment that my daughter Kaitlyn posted on my facebook page on the topic of the artist statement:
Wow, so weird that you should post this today. I spent the morning writing a new artist statement. I like how Marian calls them living documents, because they change as we do. I end up writing a new one at least once a year, and usually it's just about life with some small tie in with my work. I feel like I'm thinking on many planes when I write about my work because it's so intertwined and inseparable from the rest of my life.
and this is from Cynthia Simmons, my ex-double cousin in law! (my friend...)
After reading Eckhart Tolle this week, I'm convinced artists should try to leave their egos out of it and concentrate on what makes magic in their work....like what you're doing to become inspired and enthusiastic. The list of what an artist has accomplished is blah blah blah. What brings it all on is fascinating.
Post a Comment