A Mask Sounding the Death Knell 1880

Curator: This is Odilon Redon's evocative lithograph, "A Mask Sounding the Death Knell," a piece currently residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Brrr, that mask gives me the creeps! It’s like a porcelain doll come to life in a nightmare, peering up at that ominous bell. Curator: Yes, Redon was working in a milieu steeped in Symbolism, engaging with anxieties about industrialization, the commodification of labor, and mortality itself. The lithographic process allowed for these gradations of tone, emphasizing the stark contrast. Editor: I imagine him hunched over a plate, painstakingly building up those shadows, almost as if he’s conjuring the darkness right there on the stone. It really puts the *work* in artwork, doesn’t it? I feel like I can almost hear the echoes of that bell! Curator: Precisely. This work invites us to consider not just what is depicted, but how the means of its production – the manual labor, the material constraints – contribute to its haunting effect. Editor: Well, Redon certainly succeeded in making us feel the weight of it all. Gives you pause, doesn't it?