Gaston Redon (28 October 1853 – 20 November 1921) was a French architect, teacher, and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

Biography

Redon was born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

, to a prosperous family, the younger brother of artist

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...

. Gaston attended the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

in the atelier of Louis-Jules André, and took the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for architecture in 1883. This entitled him to three years at the

French Academy in Rome The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...

at the Villa Medici in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, from 1884 to 1887, where he met and became friends with the French composer

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

. After his return to Paris, Redon was made the official architect of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

museum. The rebuilding and expansion of the

Pavillon de Marsan The Pavillon de Marsan or Marsan Pavilion was built in the 1660s as the northern end of the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and reconstructed in the 1870s after the Tuileries burned down at the end of the Paris Commune. Following the completion of th ...

(the most northwestern wing of the palace) between 1900 and 1905 to accommodate the Museum of Decorative Arts amounts to his major built work. Redon was elected to the

Académie des Beaux-Arts The (; ) is a French learned society based in Paris. It is one of the five academies of the . The current president of the academy (2021) is Alain-Charles Perrot, a French architect. Background The academy was created in 1816 in Paris as a me ...

in May 1914, and, jointly with Alfred-Henri Recoura, ran an architecture atelier at the Ecole. His students included French architects

Henri Marchal Henri Marchal (June 24, 1876 – April 10, 1970) was a French architect and civil servant. He devoted a great part of his life to research on the art and archeology of Cambodia and the conservation and restoration of Khmer monuments at the arche ...

Roger-Henri Expert Roger-Henri Expert (18 April 1882 – 13 April 1955) was a French architect. Life The son of a merchant, Expert first studied painting at the École des beaux-arts in Bordeaux, then from 1906 attended the École nationale supérieure des Bea ...

, and Louis-Hippolyte Boileau, among others.

Works

His work includes: * the tomb of

César Franck César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,00 ...

, 1894 * the casino at

Royan Royan (; in the Saintongeais dialect; ) is a commune and town in the south-west of France, in the Departments of France, department of Charente-Maritime in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Capital of the Côte de Beauté, Royan is one of the mai ...

, 1895 (destroyed 1945) * Museum of Decorative Arts,

, 1900–1905

Sources

online biography (in French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redon, Gaston Place of death missing 1853 births 1921 deaths 19th-century French architects 19th-century French educators 19th-century French male artists 20th-century French architects 20th-century French educators 20th-century French male artists Architects from Bordeaux Architects from Paris Architecture educators Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery École des Beaux-Arts alumni Educators from Paris French art educators French expatriates in Italy French graphic artists Members of the Académie des beaux-arts People associated with the Louvre Prix de Rome for architecture

Biography

Works

See also

Sources