The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

Quasimodo

Quasimodo

c. 1875–80
(French, 1840–1916)
France, 19th century
charcoal with fabricated black chalk and touches of white and gray gouache on gray wove paper
Sheet: 36.8 x 32.9 cm (14 1/2 x 12 15/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 2020.63
Catalogue raisonné: Wildenstein 2639
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Victor Hugo, the author who inspired this drawing’s subject, also made drawings with black materials inspired by his own imagination, much like Redon’s own work.

Description

The nineteenth-century French artist Odilon Redon was known for works defined by their darkness—both the black materials he used and the mood of his fantastical themes. This drawing depicts Quasimodo, the protagonist of Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but does not directly relate to the text. Redon layered and rubbed away charcoal marks to create the indeterminate space behind the pair.
  • ?-?
    Marcel Lecomte [1900-1966], Paris
    1997
    (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 11, 1997, no. 74)
    by 1999
    (Galerie Ronny van de Velde, Antwerp)
    after 1999-before 2002
    Private Collection, Paris, France
    2002
    (Galerie Eric Coatalem, Paris, sold to Eugene Thaw, New York)
    2002-2018
    Eugene Thaw [1927–2018], New York
    2018
    (sale, Christie’s, New York, November 12, 2018, no. 160)
    2019
    (sale, Christie’s, New York, May 14, 2019, no. 116, sold to a private collector)
    2019
    private collection
    2019-2020
    (Jill Newhouse, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    2020-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Wildenstein, Alec. Odilon Redon, catalogue raisonné de l’œuvre peint et dessiné. Paris: Wildenstein Institute, 1992. Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 4, p. 276, no. 2639
    Peintures et dessins des XIXe et XXe siècles. Paris: Drouot, 1997. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 24, no. 74
    Jumeau-Lafond, Jean-David. Les Peintres de l’âme: Le Symbolisme idéaliste en France. Exh. cat. Brussels: Musée d’Ixelles, 1999. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 143, no. 109
    Œuvres sur papier. Exh. cat. Paris: Galerie Eric Coatalem, 2002. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 50-51
    Impressionist and Modern Art Works on Paper and Day Sales. New York: Christie’s, 2018. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 160
    Impressionist and Modern Art Works on Paper and Day Sales. New York: Christie’s, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 116
    Salsbury, Britany. “Collecting Dreams: An exhibition of the museum's outstanding collection of works by Odilon Redon.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 3 (Summer 2021): 12-15. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 13-14
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
    Collecting Dreams: Odilon Redon. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19, 2021-January 23, 2022).
    Œuvres sur papier. Galerie Eric Coatalem, Paris (2002).
    Les Peintres de l’âme: Le Symbolisme idéaliste en France. Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels (October 15–December 31, 1999).
  • {{cite web|title=Quasimodo|url=false|author=Odilon Redon|year=c. 1875–80|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.63