Little Prelate (Petit prélat)

Odilon Redon

1888

A small drypoint print by Odilon Redon that depicts a solitary, ambiguous prelate rendered more as an expression of mood than a literal likeness.

The tiny plate is charged with dense, velvety blacks and soft smudges that form a hunched, fur‑collared figure whose hollowed face and shadowed eyes seem to melt into a misty gray ground.

Produced in Redon’s symbolist period, the work helped shift printmaking toward conveying psychological states and poetic ambiguity, influencing later modernist explorations of dream and inner life.

Palette

Exhibitions

The Prints of Odilon Redon

1986

Odilon Redon: Drawings and Lithographs

1952

Symbolism, Synthesists, and the Fin-de-Siècle

1972

Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Lillie P. Bliss

1931