Henri Patrice Dillon 'Henri Dillon': A premier turn-of-the-century painter and lithographer, the art of Henri Patrice Dillon may not be classified under any school or own way, leaving a legacy of masterworks stamped by his unique genius. Born of French parents in San Francisco, HenriDillon moved permanently to Paris when still a young man to pursue his studies in art. There he was instructed by Lehmann, Frappa and Duran and he first began exhibiting at the Salon de Paris in 1876. During the following years, Henri Dillon's art (and in particular, his original lithographs) gained for him an international reputation. He was a full member of the Societe des Peintres-graveurs and became Vice-president of the Societe des Lithographs. Nearing the end of his life, Dillon was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur by the French government.
Henri Patrice Dillon's world was the circus, the ballet, the coffee houses and concert halls of Paris.
Other artists of the time drew their inspiration from the same fertile fields, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Cheret and other exponents of the Art Nouveau style; but while they depicted its light and life, Dillon rendered its mystery.
The greatest master of the 'splatter technique', Henri Dillon moved his figures in and out of compelling degrees of shades, deliberately distorting the lines between substance and shadows.
Further, he was among the first to break up the pictorial space, giving us seemingly disconnected patches or fragments of scenes, which under his genius, relate and hold together in a way we cannot define.
Such is the case with the masterpiece, Shadows.
Dominated by the enigmatic face of a clown or Pierrot-like character, we move in and out of shadows from the dancers to the small figure at the bottom to the women seated at the table. Like all the finest lithographs of Henri Patrice Dillon, this is a haunting work of art.
Benezit also records that all of Henri Patrice Dillon's original lithographs were printed in very small numbers. |
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