2000.26.FA Odilon Redon, Woman Wearing a Toque and a Mermaid's Tail



GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
A woman donning a 16th-century plumed hat, or toque, emerges between the petals of a mermaid tail-turned-flower. Odilon Redon uses lithography's capacity for deep blacks and detailed lines to accentuate the textural transformation from diamond scales to fluted petals. The lines are delicate; the composition sinuous, but the hybrid woman-plant and sea creature is a fantastic puzzle. Femme a la Toque is an illustration for Stéphane Mallarmé's enigmatic, almost incoherent poem, A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance. As a great admirer of Darwin's theory of evolution, Redon was inspired by the infinite variations in nature and often hypothesized complex creatures. His imagination made him the quintessential French Symbolist of the the 19th century.

Excerpt from
Britanny Luberda, DMA label copy, 2010.


NOTES
Created 1900

Checked Piction

WOP-Euro- Fantasies Symbolist Text postGail

Cannot find a secure full text version of the Mallarmé poem for a web resource.

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography 
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

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WEB RESOURCES 
  • Poets.org~Read an excerpt of Stéphane Mallarmé's A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance.
  • Musée d'Orsay, Paris~Learn more about Odilon Redon and his work from the Musee d'Orsay.
  • Vimeo~Watch this video of Dr. Ted Gott presenting a paper comparing Odilon Redon to English poet and artist William Blake.

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Apply to objects where number equals 2000.26.FA

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General Description
 
A woman donning a 16th-century plumed hat, or toque, emerges between the petals of a mermaid tail-turned-flower. Odilon Redon uses lithography's capacity for deep blacks and detailed lines to accentuate the textural transformation from diamond scales to fluted petals. The lines are delicate; the composition sinuous, but the hybrid woman-plant and sea creature is a fantastic puzzle. Femme a la Toque is an illustration for Stéphane Mallarmé's enigmatic, almost incoherent poem, A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance. As a great admirer of Darwin's theory of evolution, Redon was inspired by the infinite variations in nature and often hypothesized complex creatures. His imagination made him the quintessential French Symbolist of the the 19th century.

Excerpt from
Britanny Luberda, DMA label copy, 2010.


Fun Facts

Archival Resources

Web Resources
 
  • Poets.org~Read an excerpt of Stéphane Mallarmé's A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance.
  • Musée d'Orsay, Paris~Learn more about Odilon Redon and his work from the Musee d'Orsay.
  • Vimeo~Watch this video of Dr. Ted Gott presenting a paper comparing Odilon Redon to English poet and artist William Blake.

Notes
Created 1900

Checked Piction

WOP-Euro- Fantasies Symbolist Text postGail

Cannot find a secure full text version of the Mallarmé poem for a web resource.

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Geography 
Place of origin: Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Process/materials

Historical periods

Individuals

Subject terms

RELATED OBJECTS 

PROVENANCE 

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS

rules
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Objects
number
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2000.26.FA
tags
#draft
female: AAT: 300189557
%Archived
@Russell
#routed
*European Art
hats (headgear): AAT: 300046106
flowers (plants): AAT: 300132399
works on paper: AAT: 300189621
Symbolist (style): AAT: 300021514
paper (fiber product): AAT: 300014109
lithography: AAT: 300053271
lithographs (planographic prints): AAT: 300041379
tails (animal components): AAT: 300251800
poetry: AAT: 300055931
Redon_Odilon: ULAN: 500007292
Mallarmé_Stéphane: ULAN: 500255220
source file
object_notes_2_b-0260.xml.nores