In the last instalment of art for Halloween, we look at the Belgian Symbolist.
Félicien Rops (1833-1898) was a Belgian graphic artist whose work embodies the Decadent Movement’s attitude towards art and morality. In one sense, this artist lived a conventional life. He was a master printmaker and also frequently went out to paint in the landscape. He was in demand as a caricaturist and illustrator, with his prints appearing in journals, newspapers and books. His art ranges from Social Realism to Symbolism and fin-de-siecle decadence. It is that latter field within which Rops made his art of horror.
Rops’s images frequently included nudity, even to the point of obscenity. Although these works were never widely circulated at the time, it is notable that Rops thought to make printing plates of these, rather than just leving them as drawings, suggesting he saw some potential for these works reaching an audience, albeit a select one. In this selection, I shall concentrate on the less extreme images, which can be found on his Wikipedia page here. Rops’s brilliance with the etching needle and lithographic crayon made his inventions remarkably memorable. He could bring to life his fantasies, making them all the more alluring and repellent.
The Human Comedy (1878-81)
This is an iconic image by Rops, made using watercolour and chalk. Rops divided his time between Belgium and Paris. We often find in his art stereotypes of the buxom Belgian wench-peasant and the scrawny Parisian waif. The Parisian is marked out by her long gowns, make-up, fancy hair and the urban setting she occupies. In this Parisian scene, death is disguised as a Parisian prostitute luring a man to a fate sealed by his libido. The inference is clear: this woman of the night has syphilis, a disease that ravaged Europe (in particular the cities) in the period, and if the man allows himself to be seduced, he will meet a terrible death. Syphilis is a venereal disease that leads to disfigurement, senility, incapacity, madness and eventually death. Rops, and other creators of his time, were very aware of the disease, not least because they knew relatives and colleagues who contracted syphilis. These included Baudelaire, Maupassant, Manet and Flaubert.
