Description
Book SynopsisThis book explores Symbolist artists' fascination with ancient Greek art and myth, and how the erotic played a major role in this. For a brief period at the end of the 19th century the Symbolist movement inspired artists to turn inwards to the unconscious mind, endeavouring to unveil the secrets of human nature through their symbolic art. But above all their greatest interest, and fear, was man (and woman's) sexuality. Building upon the traditions of Academic neoclassicism, but fired with a new zeal, they turned back to Greek art and myth for inspiration.
That classical legacy was once again a vehicle for artists to express their dreams, ideas and revelries. And so too their anxieties. For at times the frightening spectre of the sexual unconscious drove them to a new and innovative engagement with antiquity, including in ways never before tried in the history of the classical tradition. The unnerving sirens of Gustave Moreau, unearthly heroines of Odilon Redon, or leering fa
Trade Review
This book’s collection of images and its linking of them to the erotic opens exciting avenues of exploration around questions of Symbolist reception and these artists’ engagement of the ancient as a space to explore the cultural politics of sexual fantasy and the embodiment of desire. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Table of Contents
List of illustrations Introduction Context Symbolists and the Classics The Greek Body Sex and the Symbolists Part 1 – The Female Body Aphrodite – As Object Medusa – As Danger Sphinx – As Mystery Part 2 – The Male Body Endymion – As Idol Faun – As Instinct Ganymede – As Androgyne Part 3 – The Other Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
