The Franco-Prussian War and Cosmological Symbolism in Odilon Redon's "Noirs"

Abstract

The author examines the political and social dimensions of Redon's cosmological graphic work of the last three decades of the nineteenth century within the dual context of the emerging field of astrophysics and the revival of cosmological symbolism following the Franco-Prussian War. She looks at the growing importance of eclipse studies along with public awareness of an eclipse that took place at the end of the war as the sources of Redon's black sun. She also looks at the revival of apocalyptic imagery at the end of the century along with scientific information about comets in discussing Redon's lithographic album The Apocalypse of St. John (1899). Finally, the author speculates about the influence of the extraterrestrial life debate (initiated with the Martian Canal debates in 1877) on Redon's work.