Head Framed by Black Hair - Odilon Redon
Archival giclée
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Description
A haunting lithograph by Symbolist artist Odilon Redon, featuring a stark portrait defined by deep shadows and an enigmatic, wide-eyed gaze.
This lithograph by Odilon Redon captures the artist's preoccupation with the psychological and the dreamlike. Redon, a central figure in the Symbolist movement, often moved away from the objective observation of the natural world, preferring to explore the internal states of the human psyche. In this work, the subject is presented with a stark, haunting quality. The heavy, dark mass of hair acts as a frame, isolating the face and drawing attention to the wide, staring eyes.
Redon utilised the medium of lithography to achieve a range of tonal values, from the deepest blacks to the softest greys. The texture of the charcoal-like marks creates a sense of ambiguity, where the figure appears to emerge from a void. The lines are deliberate, conveying a sense of unease and introspection. Unlike his contemporaries who focused on light and colour, Redon focused on the expressive potential of shadow and form.
This print demonstrates his technical mastery over the lithographic stone, allowing for a velvety depth that defines his black and white works. The composition is minimal, stripping away background details to focus entirely on the facial expression. The gaze of the subject is fixed, yet distant, suggesting a preoccupation with internal visions rather than the physical environment. This piece is representative of Redon's 'noirs', a series of works that defined his early career and established his reputation for exploring the mysterious and the subconscious. The lack of specific context or narrative allows the viewer to project their own interpretations onto the subject, maintaining the enigmatic quality that characterises much of his output.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Head Framed by Black Hair - Odilon Redon
Artist Biography
Odilon Redon
For the first two decades of his career he worked exclusively in black: charcoal drawings and lithographs he called his noirs. Floating eyeballs, severed heads with closed lids, spiders with human faces, plants that grow teeth. The images are hallucinatory but precisely rendered, closer to medical illustration than fantasy. He published his first lithograph album, Dans le Reve, in 1879. Nobody noticed.
Recognition came sideways. In 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans published A rebours, a novel about a reclusive aesthete who decorates his rooms with Redon's prints. The book became a cult text for the Symbolist movement and Redon became famous by association. Stephane Mallarme, the Symbolist poet, became a close friend. Redon also completed a series of lithographs dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe, whose poems Mallarme and Baudelaire had translated into French.
After 1900 he stopped making noirs entirely and shifted to colour: pastels and oils of flowers, mythological figures and butterflies in palettes that anticipate Matisse. The transition was so complete that the Surrealists later claimed the black work while the Fauves claimed the colour, and neither group seemed to notice they were talking about the same person.
He studied under Jean-Leon Gerome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, which is an unlikely pairing: Gerome painted Roman gladiators with photographic precision. Redon painted eyeballs attached to balloons. Goya and Delacroix were the influences that actually stuck.
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