In the first of these two articles, I showed my favourite paintings by Gustav Klimt, the first president of the Vienna Secession, the most influential and enduring of the art revolutions to spread across Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. Today I show some examples from other painters in that movement in Austria.

The Secession’s honorary president was Rudolf von Alt (1812–1905), who had trained in Vienna and was the most respected Austrian landscape painter of the day. He had travelled extensively in Europe, as far as Crimea, and painted some superb views of Italy. He was ennobled in 1889 for his artistic achievements.

Rudolf von Alt (1812–1905), Altaussee Lake and Face of Mount Trissel (1859), watercolour, 26.5 x 37.1 cm, Leopold Museum (Die Sammlung Leopold), Vienna, Austria. Wikimedia Commons.

His earlier and mature watercolours are rich in detail, as in his Altaussee Lake and Face of Mount…

Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a wave of revolutions in art spread across Europe. In these, substantial groups of artists working in a wide range of media rejected the conservative standards maintained by Academies and Salons. These started in Paris and Munich, and spread quickly to Berlin and Vienna. Later movements in Poland and elsewhere, although not termed secessions, followed suit.

The most influential and enduring of them all is that in Vienna, led by the painter Gustav Klimt, which has become synonymous with Art Nouveau, and extended to glasswork, ceramics, furniture and architecture. This weekend I look at a small selection of paintings which show how diverse it was even in the graphic arts.

There is no such thing as a Vienna Secession style, but the members of the movement came together to provide an alternative to the Association of Austrian Artists, in their Vereinigung Bildender…

Painting in pastels is as close as you can come to pure pigment, thus to pure colour. This week’s pastellist is perhaps the greatest exponent of this. Odilon Redon (1840–1916), who is known by his nickname acquired from his mother, Marie-Odile, didn’t turn to pastels until the middle of his career.

He tried to start with a classical training, but couldn’t gain admission to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and didn’t stay long as a pupil in Jean-Léon Gérôme’s studio. He concentrated on etching and lithography during his early career, then turned to painting in oils. It wasn’t until the 1890s, when he was in his fifties, that Redon concentrated on painting. For the next twenty years he produced a series of highly original paintings in oils and pastels.

Odilon Redon (1840–1916), Mystical Knight (Oedipus and the Sphinx) (1894), pastel, dimensions and location not known. Image by Cactus.man, via…

Who Is Odilon Redon?

Odilon Redon was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist.

Known for his unique blend of artistic naturalism and symbolic subject matter, Odilon Redon was highly influential among the late 19th century French avant-garde circle. Working in charcoal, pastel, oil, and lithography, Redon created imaginative scenes that, while often based in the supernatural, were nonetheless executed in a highly representational manner.

artsy.net

Redon considered this descriptive accuracy essential, writing

“every time that a human figure does not give the illusion that it is … about to come out of the picture frame to walk, act or think, the drawing is not a truly modern one.”

from artsy.net

What is Symbolist Art?

Symbolist artist Odilon Redon created…

“As a young man, Redon was fascinated with Darwinian biology and enjoyed a close friendship with Armand Clavaud, the curator of the botanical gardens in his hometown of Bordeaux. In late floral still lifes such as this one, the artist demonstrated a naturalist’s sense of wonder as well as a richly inventive imagination, combining many different types of blooms and foliage in an effervescent display, attended by fluttering butterflies. The vase, which appears in a number of Redon’s flower pictures, was made and presented to him by the ceramicist Marie Botkin around 1900.”Metropolitan Museum of Art

Learn More

• Works by or about Odilon Redon at Internet Archive
• Artcyclopedia – Links to Redon’s works
• The Athenaeum – Extensive list and images of Redon’s works
• Museum Syndicate