The Dark Eye of Odilon Redon: Dreamer of the Infinite

Louis-Charles Libaude (1869-1922) had a fascinating career and is no stranger to these pages, as he was an auctioneer until 1910 when he resigned from the Compagnie de Paris. He left the judiciary to set up as an art dealer in a gallery at 17 Avenue Trudaine, taking over from Georges Thomas. He followed and sold the work of Pablo Picasso (a pioneer in this respect), Maurice Utrillo, staging the artist's first exhibition in May 1913 at the Blot Gallery, was friends with Emile Bernard , who painted his portrait in 1909, and collected artworks by Marie Laurencin, Raoul Dufy , Maurice de Vlaminck, Olga Boznanska (three of whose oil portraits are also in this sale) and Odilon Redon. Libaude's many talents included a deft pen: in October 1892, under the pseudonym Louis Lormel, he launched L'Art littéraire , in which he published various writings including Tableaux d'âme  ( Paintings of the Soul) in 1908. Libaude staged his return to the Hôtel Drouot on March 9, 1918, and May 19, 1920, when he decided to sell a large part of his collection through the intermediary of Georges Aulard. Redon's Visage cellulaire ( Cellular Face) , then titled La Fleur humaine ( The Human Flower ), Le Satyre au cynique…