La tentation de Saint Antoine

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La tentation de Saint Antoine

Artist Odilon Redon (French, 1840-1916)

Publisher Éditions Ambroise Vollard, Paris, 1933 [title page] (published 1938)

Printer text: Henri Jourde, Paris; lithographs: Auguste Clot, [Paris]

Author Gustave Flaubert (French, 1821-1880)

Date1938

DimensionsBook: H: 17 13/16 in. (452 mm); W: 13 9/16 in. (344 mm); Depth: 2 1/2 in. (64 mm).
Page (untrimmed): H: 17 1/2 in. (445 mm); W: 13 1/16 in. (331 mm).

MediumOriginal prints: 22 lithographs on China paper mounted on Arches white laid paper (suite); plus 16 wood engravings (incl. wrapper) and 5-page table of wood engraved plates after the lithographs, engraved by Georges Aubert after Redon's designs. Text: letterpress. Paper: Arches cream wove paper, watermarked.

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineGift of Molly and Walter Bareiss

Object number

1984.996

Not on View

Label TextOdilon Redon, La tentation de Saint Antoine (The Temptation of Saint Anthony). Text by Gustave Flaubert (1933; published 1938) Odilon Redon was one of the great masters of black and white lithography. He first read Gustave Flaubert’s classic work The Temptation of Saint Anthony in 1882. Redon found the drama’s bizarre imagery sympathetic with his own imagination. He enthusiastically proclaimed it, “a literary marvel, and a mine for me.” In Flaubert’s drama (published in 1874), the hermit Saint Anthony, alone in the desert, finds his mind wandering away from holy thoughts. This allows the Devil to come and tempt him. In a prolonged hallucination, he is visited by monsters, deities and historical figures who eventually convince him to embrace earthly life. But as the sun rises and the hallucination fades, “Anthony makes the sign of the cross, and resumes his devotions.” Redon created three portfolios of lithographs inspired by the book: in 1888, 1889, and 1896. Ambroise Vollard, who had commissioned the third portfolio, later decided to publish a livre d’artiste combining Flaubert’s text with Redon’s images. Redon produced an additional series of drawings, which he completed around 1910. They were printed with the text as wood engravings. The earlier lithographs were included as a separate suite of prints. Like many of Vollard’s book projects, Saint Anthony faced many delays; for instance, at one point Vollard mislaid Redon’s drawings. The book was finally published in 1938—long after Redon’s death and less than a year before Vollard died.Published Referencescf. Castleman, Riva, A Century of Artists Books, New York, 1994, p. 89, repr.

cf. Johnson, Una E., Ambroise Vollard, Éditeur: Prints, Books, Bronzes, New York, 1977, no. 195, reprs.

cf. Catalogue complet des éditions Ambroise Vollard, Portique, Paris, 1930. (1984.438) (Listed as "in preparation")

cf. Hogben, Carol, Rowan Watson, editors, From Manet to Hockney: Modern Artists’ Illustrated Books, London, 1985, no. 13, repr.

cf. Wheeler, Monroe, Modern Painters and Sculptors as Illustrators, New York, 1946, p. 109

cf. Johnson, Robert Flynn, Artists' Books in the Modern Era 1870--2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books, San Francisco, 2001, no. 6

cf. Sims Reed, Circa 1900, London, 2001, cat. 122.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Splendid Pages: The Molly and Walter Bareiss Collection of Modern Illustrated Books, Feb. 14--May 11, 2003

Toledo Museum of Art, What’s Wrong with Me? Art and Disease, April 22-August 7, 2011, (UT Student exhibition).