Rodolphe Bresdin was a French draughtsman and engraver, born in

Le Fresne-sur-Loire Le Fresne-sur-Loire (, literally ''Le Fresne on Loire''; br, Runonn) is a former commune of the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Ingrandes-le-Fresne-sur-Loire, and became par ...

on 12 August 1822, who died in

Sèvres Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for ...

on 11 January 1885. His fantastic works, full of strange details, particularly attracted

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebour ...

Robert de Montesquiou Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac (7 March 1855, Paris – 11 December 1921, Menton) was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, painter, art collector, art interpreter, and dandy. He is reputed to have been the inspira ...

and

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he worked almost exclusivel ...

was his pupil. Bresdin influenced contemporary artists like Jacques Moreau, George Rubel,

Jean-Pierre Velly Jean-Pierre Velly (14 September 1943, Audierne, France – 26 May 1990) was a Breton etcher, draftsman and painter. In 1965, after attending the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Toulon, he began study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Art ...

, and Philippe Mohlitz. Bresdin's life story and his art are both extraordinary and fascinating. He was one of the finest and most original exponents of the art of print-making in the nineteenth century and his name ranks alongside those of Whistler, Doré and Meryon in achievement and influence. Huysmans described in his beautifully written, arresting novel, 'Against Nature' (alternative translation, 'Against the Grain') how his aesthete hero, Des Esseintes, 'in search of the rarest perfumes of visual splendours', has just savoured the prints of

Jan Luyken Johannes or Jan Luyken (April 16, 1649 – April 5, 1712) was a Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver.Henri Murger Louis-Henri Murger, also known as Henri Murger and Henry Murger (27 March 1822 – 28 January 1861), was a French novelist and poet. He is chiefly distinguished as the author of the 1851 book ''Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (Scenes of Bohemi ...

and

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

; after the counter revolution walking 678 kilometres to Toulouse; living in the open air, workmen's and fishermen's huts; taking a wife and six children to Canada in pursuit of the dream of 'living off the land'; rescued and brought back to France by Hugo and the bohemian writers and artists; separation from the family and death in a garret room in Sèvres.

Bibliography

* Jean Adhémar et Alix Gambier, ''Rodolphe Bresdin : 1822-1885'' (catalogue de l'exposition à la Bibliothèque Nationale), Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, 1963, 47 p.) * Trevor Dance, "Rodolphe Bresdin: an Incorrigible Bohemian", published by Unicorn Press in October 2016. * Joris-Karl Huysmans: 'A Rebours' 1884, translated as 'Against the Grain', Dover publications 1969, and 'Against Nature', Penguin Classics, 1959.

External links

*http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/173 * http://www.artnet.com/artists/rodolphe-bresdin/ * http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/two-masters-fantasy {{DEFAULTSORT:Bresdin, Rodolphe French engravers 19th-century engravers 1822 births 1885 deaths People from Loire-Atlantique French draughtsmen