And I Saw in the Right Hand of Him that Sat on the Throne a Book Written within and on the Backside, Sealed with Seven Seals 1899

Editor: Here we have Odilon Redon’s 1899 lithograph, “And I Saw in the Right Hand of Him that Sat on the Throne a Book Written within and on the Backside, Sealed with Seven Seals." It’s an intense image; the shrouded figure, the peering faces… what do you see in this work? Curator: Redon's Symbolist work demands that we consider the socio-political anxieties of his time. This print, with its ghostly figure and the concealed book, speaks to the fin-de-siècle obsession with hidden knowledge and societal revelation. How do you see the act of concealing and revealing operating here, especially regarding those peering faces? Editor: Well, it feels like those figures are desperate to know what's in the book, like knowledge is being kept from them. Maybe it reflects class divisions, like the elite hoard information and power? Curator: Precisely. Think about the power dynamics at play. Redon was deeply critical of the bourgeois class, and this image subtly questions who gets to control narratives and shape history. Could this sealed book represent repressed voices or histories? Who benefits from keeping it sealed? Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way. It makes me consider whose stories are validated, whose are ignored. And the act of 'sealing' suggests deliberate suppression. Curator: Exactly! Redon prompts us to interrogate what forces – political, social, even spiritual – perpetuate those silences, and whose voices might emerge if those seals were broken. He isn't just illustrating a biblical passage; he's holding a mirror to society’s own sealed narratives. Editor: This really changes how I see it. It's not just a spooky drawing; it’s a challenge to unearth silenced histories and question power structures. Curator: Yes! And that’s what makes art from the past continuously relevant; it ignites critical engagement with our present realities.