Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier, 1865–1946)
Original title: Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier, 1865–1946)
kurzbeschreibung
In 1901 Odilon Redon caught Marie Escudier, the wife of the collector Arthur Fontaine, in a quiet moment of reading. Worked in pastel on paper, the sheet presents a woman in a yellow dress with a book, set within a half-lit room.
Description
Marie Escudier occupies the middle of the picture, absorbed in her reading, her gaze turned downward. Her yellow dress draws the eye, and the white sleeve carries golden trim; her dark hair is gathered into a knot. Flowers and plants in blue, purple and green fill the background. Light falling in from the left picks out the texture of the fabric and the floral shapes.
Context
This portrait dates from 1901, when Redon, after a black-and-white phase, turned more and more to color. Marie Escudier was the wife of the industrialist and art patron Arthur Fontaine, a supporter of Redon. The picture belongs to a series of pastel portraits made during this period of his career.
Impact
The soft pastel tones and the calm arrangement create an intimate, thoughtful atmosphere. Warm light and the floral backdrop give the sheet a dreamlike quality and draw the viewer into the reading scene.
Technique
Redon used pastel chalk on paper, which allowed him soft transitions of color and a velvety surface. The pastel-like, almost impressionistic handling of the strokes lets the contours blur and stresses the interplay of light and shadow.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)