Beginning in the late 1870s, Redon entered an extremely productive creative period in which he worked almost exclusively in black chalk. His noirs often convey an esoteric symbolism which draws on a broad range of sources and references. This figure, which has variously been described as an embodiment of intuition, the demon Mephistopheles, and an archetypal fool, is one of Redon's most enigmatic imagined portraits. The fool's penetrating gaze and threateningly sharp lifted fingernail subvert the comical associations of his costume and impart a sense of foreboding. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Signed at lower right, "Odilon Redon," inscribed on verso at upper left, "Mephistophélés"; at lower left center, "91."
Dubourg, Jacques, former owner.
Malamoud, Rene, former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 309, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. Drawings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Victor Thaw. Part II. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1985, no. 50.
Régis, Michel. La peinture comme crime ou la part maudite de la modernité. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001, pp. 178 and 362, no. 120, repr.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 91, repr. [Andreas Strobl]