French artist Odilon Redon (1840–1916) was a key precursor of Surrealist thought. A contemporary of the Impressionists, Redon instead chose to align himself with literary Symbolism, as evidenced by his friendship with poet Stéphane Mallarmé and his visual interpretations of the decadent texts of such writers as Baudelaire, Flaubert, Poe, and others. I Am the First Consciousness of Chaos collects Redon’s key “noirs,” as he called his works in black—lithographs, etchings and charcoals—that evidence the artistic lineage from Symbolism to Surrealism. Never previously available in a single volume, the majority of Redon’s noirs—over 250 illustrations—are finally collected here, along with illuminating excerpts from the texts which inspired their creation, including work by J. K. Huysmans, Flaubert, Baudelaire, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and St John the Divine, as well as an autobiographical introductory essay by Redon himself. Within the pages of this dark and bizarre collection are grotesque and oneiric images: giant and sundered eyes, fantastic cannibal shadows, skeletal harbingers of dread, and the nebulous phantasms that erupt from the night. I Am the First Consciousness of Chaos is an extraordinary gathering of art sprung from the unique mind of Redon and motivated by some of the nineteenth century’s most influential literature.

Product Description: A review from The Academy and Literature, Volume 51: The dream tales comprised in this volume are four. Let me take one, "Phantoms." The story is of a man who became the object of amiable attentions on the part of a lady-phantom called Alice...read more

Product Description: THIS volume by the author of “Quo Vadis” comprises almost 500 pages, about one-third being occupied by the story which gives the book its title, “Hania.” It is a romance of strength and tenderness and powerful characterization, its scene being laid in Poland...read more

Product Description: An excerpt from the beginning of the FOREWORD: ON the morning of October eleventh, nineteen hundred and nineteen. Dr. David Gregg, only twelve hours removed from virile geniality and mellow words, went from among those whom he had loved and with whom he had lived for a long span of years...read more

Product Description: An excerpt from the INTRODUCTION: IN all ages of the world, among all peoples, the same question, What is life? has been asked, and has never been answered. To-day we are all eagerly asking it. The great men of science accumulate observations about it, but cannot satisfy us...read more

Product Description: Published on the occasion of the largest ever Odilon Redon retrospective, held at the Grand Palais in Paris in the spring of 2011, this chunky but pocketbook-size paperback volume reproduces all 256 artworks included in the landmark exhibition...read more

Product Description: Illustrations employing various color schemes, including black and white, primary colors, and less-common hues such as lilac and mauve, add life to this two-part volume of stories dealing with desire and passion, originally published in French in 1908...read more

Product Description: Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Whale and Star PressImmediately after the publication of Les Fleurs du Mal in 1857, Baudelaire was prosecuted and found guilty of obscenity and blasphemy. Today, Les Fleurs du Mal is considered by many to be the most important and influential poetry collection published in Europe in the 19th century...read more

Product Description: Caught between description and dream, the felt and the imagined, French artist Odilon Redon, whose career bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, transformed the natural world into nightmarish visions and bizarre fantasies...read more

Product Description: One of the most expressive artists of the Symbolism movement, Odilon (1840–1916) led a quiet life. Withdrawn in manner, conventional in dress, and virtually unknown for the first half of his career, the French painter and graphic artist drew upon his own startlingly complex and fantastic inner world to create haunting works that reveal an existence beyond that of everyday vision...read more

Selections from the journals of the nineteenth-century French artist describe his feelings about art, creativity, and painters of the past, as well as his contemporaries

Product Description: This publication explores the work of Odilon Redon (1840-1916), the Symbolist painter.

Traces the artistic development of the French painter whose work exhibits his remarkable freedom of spirit

Gathers Redon's pastel portraits, flower pictures, and religious works, and shares his comments on art

Product Description: One of the most expressive artists of the Symbolism movement, Odilon (1840–1916) led a quiet life. Withdrawn in manner, conventional in dress, and virtually unknown for the first half of his career, the French painter and graphic artist drew upon his own startlingly complex and fantastic inner world to create haunting works that reveal an existence beyond that of everyday vision...read more