Artwork
Sous l'aile d'ombre, l'etre noir appliquait une active morsure (Beneath the wing of shadow the black creature was biting energetically)
Sous l'aile d'ombre, l'etre noir appliquait une active morsure (Beneath the wing of shadow the black creature was biting energetically) is an ink print by the Impressionist artist Odilon Redon. It dates from 1891 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1891, this lithograph by Odilon Redon bears the French title Sous l’aile d’ombre, l’être noir appliquait une active morsure, translated as “Beneath the wing of shadow the black creature was biting energetically.” The work is a monochrome print that exemplifies Redon’s late‑period fascination with enigmatic, night‑time scenes.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows a dark, winged figure turned away from the viewer, perched on a craggy ledge. Its expansive wings are rendered in a lighter tone, while the creature’s body remains in deep, muted shades. The animal appears to be clamping its jaws on an unseen object, evoking a sense of hidden action and foreboding within a shadowy landscape.
Technique & Style
Executed as a lithograph, the piece exploits the medium’s capacity for fine line work and subtle tonal gradations. Redon employs a limited palette of dark and subdued hues, allowing the lighter winged forms to emerge from the surrounding gloom, thereby enhancing depth and atmospheric tension.
History & Provenance
The print was produced during Redon’s mature period, when he increasingly turned to black‑and‑white media after years of symbolic color work. It entered the public domain through various museum collections in the early twentieth century, though specific ownership records remain limited.
Context
Redon’s late lithographs often explore nocturnal and dream‑like subjects, reflecting Symbolist interests in the subconscious and the uncanny. This work aligns with his broader exploration of mysterious creatures and shadowed environments that challenge rational interpretation.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; French: ; 20 April 1840 – 6 July 1916) was a French Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter.
Gloire et louange a toi, satan, dans les hauteurs du ciel ou tu regnas, et dans les profondeurs de l'enfer, ou vaincu, tu reves en silence! (Glory and praise to you, Satan, in the heights of heaven, where you reigned, and in thedepths of hell, where, vanquished, you dream in s ilence!)
Le Sphynx...mon regard que rien ne peut devier, demeure tendu a travers les choses sur un horizon inaccessible. La Chimere: Moi,Je suis legere et joyeuse (The Sphinx: "My gaze, which nothing can deflect, passes through the things and remains fixed on an inaccessible horizon." The Chimera: "I am weightless and joyful")
Et celui qui était monté dessus se nommait la Mort (And his name that sat on him was Death)
Debut from "Paradise and the Peri" (3rdplate )
Awakening
Apres cela je vis descendre du ciel un ange qui avait la clef de l'abime, et une grande chaine en sa main (And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand)
Pélerin du monde sublunaire (Pilgrim of the sublunary world)
Debut from "Paradise and the Peri" (2nd plate)
Le Chaos (Chaos)
The Proverbs: Flying Folly
Le Buddha- L'Aile impuissante n'eleva point la bete en ces noirs espaces (The impotent wing did not lift the animal into that black space