And All Manner of Frightful Creatures Arise - Odilon Redon

A haunting lithograph from Odilon Redon's 1889 portfolio, 'Dans le Rêve', capturing an ethereal, dreamlike creature emerging from deep shadow.

This lithograph, titled 'And All Manner of Frightful Creatures Arise', is plate VIII from the portfolio 'Dans le Rêve' (In the Dream), published in 1889. Odilon Redon, a central figure in the Symbolist movement, focused his practice on the exploration of the subconscious and the irrational. His work often moved away from the observation of the physical world, favouring instead the depiction of internal visions and dreamscapes. The composition is dominated by deep, velvety blacks, a hallmark of Redon's mastery of the lithographic medium. He utilised the stone to create a range of tones, from the dense, impenetrable shadows of the void to the luminous, ethereal light that emanates from the central, coiled form. This creature, which resembles a fossilised ammonite or a prehistoric serpent, emerges from the darkness, surrounded by smaller, indistinct shapes that suggest a chaotic, primordial emergence. The lack of a defined horizon or spatial context forces the viewer to engage with the image as a psychological space rather than a physical one. Redon's technique in this series relies on the manipulation of light and shadow to suggest forms that are never fully articulated. By leaving much of the imagery to the viewer's imagination, he creates a sense of ambiguity that is characteristic of his 'noirs' period. The print demonstrates his ability to transform the mundane process of lithography into a medium for expressing the uncanny. This work remains a primary example of how late nineteenth-century artists began to shift their focus from the external world to the subjective experiences of the mind, prefiguring the later developments of Surrealism in the twentieth century.