Dirty Girl Things
Friday, October 05, 2007
Number One-Hundred-Eighteen
FRANZ VON BAYROS
~ from “Erotica Universalis”, by Gilles Nèret
Marquis Franz von Bayros was born in Zagreb in 1866, as the son of a Spanish nobleman. He became an artist, standing out amongst his contemporaries for his enticing and delicate graphic style. He drew a series of erotic drawings, depicting worldly beauties in compromising positions. One of his erotic portfolios, ‘Tales from the Dressing Table’, caused a courtcase and made von Bayros famous. In 1911, the Munich police persecuted him because of his illustrations and forced him into exile from Germany. He drew about 2000 illustrations in all his life, for books such as Dante’s ‘Divina Commedia’ and those by Hans Bartsch. Franz von Bayros died in Vienna 1924, at the age of 58.
A brilliant draughtsman, von Bayros kept the candle burning for the Decadents more than a quarter of a century after the death of Aubrey Beardsley in 1898. His art is an unmistakable cocktail of rococo daintiness, Beardsley-esque technique and witty, decadent eroticism.
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From the Erotic Print Society . . . .
The Erotic Art of Franz Von Bayros
and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs
A must have...
True Decadence is really two superb books in one: the inimitable art of Franz, Marquis von Bayros complemented by Venus in Furs, the literary masterpiece of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
“Both Sacher-Masoch and Bayros combine the decadent abandonment of the senses to erotic excess with a revelation of the complexity of sexual power. Krafft-Ebing and Freud analysed Sacher-Masoch in their essays on masochism, but his and Bayros’ works tell us more about sexual extremes and perversions than we can ever learn from a psychology paper or psychiatrist’s couch.”
Rebecca Roberts-Hughes
Franz Von Bayros is one of the most mysterious and undocumented artists of the 20th Century and here, for the first time, is a fascinating view of the bizarre sexual anarchy that he created in the sedate and decorous boudoirs of the early 1900s. Powerful females populate his exquisite, beautifully detailed drawings - sexual perversity is rife and the byword is luxurious decadence. With an informative foreword by Rebecca Roberts-Hughes.
* Probably the most elegant edition of Venus in Furs ever to be published
* Two books in one. Excellent illustrations of the notorious von Bayros prints, beautifully reproduced for the first time in over 100 years
* An entertaining ‘linking’ essay that gives a fascinating insight to the Age of Decadence…
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True Decadence - The Erotic Art of Franz Von Bayros and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs
Edited by Rebecca Roberts-Hughes. Published by The Erotic Print Society. 224 pages. ISBN 978-1-904989-37-0
Reviewed by Christopher John Ball
Billed as two books in one - True Decadence combines Sacher-Masoch’s (1836 - 1885) infamous novella ‘Venus in Furs’ with the artworks of Von Bayros (1866 - 1924).
‘Venus in Furs’ tells the story of the masochistic, or as the male protagonist describes it suprasensual, relationship between Severin von Kusiemski and Wanda von Dunajew. Requesting that she treats him as her slave, Wanda is encouraged by Severin to treat him in a manner that becomes increasingly degrading. Their relationship dynamic changes when Wanda becomes the submissive of another man - resulting in Severin no longer being able to draw satisfaction from submitting to her.
In an ending that has been interpreted as being either feminist or misogynistic, depending upon the politics of the interpreter, Severin concludes that women should be subordinate to men until the time arises that women are equal to men in education and rights.
The novella draws heavily from Sacher-Masoch’s own life experiences and it is from his name that the term ‘masochism’ is drawn. The character Wanda was based on the writer Fanny Pistor. The two met when Pistor, under the fictitious title Baroness Bogdanoff, contacted Sacher-Masoch for advice on how to ready some of her writings for publication. Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian, was of the utopian school of thought that was popular at the time and often promoted socialist and humanist ideals in his writings.
Franz von Bayros was an Austrian artist who, like Edvard Munch, Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley - to whom his work is often compared - associated himself with the 19th Century ‘Decadent’ movement. The term was initially meant as a derisory label, first coined by critics of the movement, but the artists and writers soon appropriated the title and made it their own.
Franz von Bayros is perhaps best known for the controversy caused by the publication of his portfolio ‘Erzahlungen vom Toilettentisch’ ( ‘Tales at the Dressing Table’ ). Following a court case - von Bayros found himself persecuted by police in Munich and he was forced into exile from Germany.
Sadly his attempts to publish his art in other cities caused further controversy and, finding his work banned, he was ‘encouraged’ to move from one country to another.
The volume has been collated and edited by Rebecca Roberts-Hughes. The version of ‘Venus in Furs’ published in True Decadence is from the 1921 translation by Fernanda Savage - courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
Roberts-Hughes contributes a 4 page introduction to the book along with 3 short essays entitled ‘The Garden of Venus’, ‘Pagan Goddesses and Cruel Women’ and ‘Power and Play.’ The introduction delivers interesting historical and biographical insights into the world of von Bayros and Sacher-Masoch whilst the three essays explore the relationships between selected images and text.
The examples Roberts-Hughes has selected from the artwork of Franz von Bayros compliment Sacher-Masoch’s text perfectly. The monochromatic illustrations in the paperback version are, for the most part, reproduced to a standard that allow something of the delicate quality of von Bayros’s art and technique to percolate through to the viewer.
Indeed it is the wonderful images contained within this volume that make True Decadence an essential purchase - even if you already have a copy of ‘Venus in Furs’ on your shelf
True Decadence is published in three editions:- A paperback book version, a collector’s hardback bound version with a dust jacket (limited to 1250 numbered copies) and a deluxe hardback bound edition with a dust jacket and supplied with a fine art print (Jupiter and Europa) in card folder (limited to 475 numbered copies). As indicated above - it is the paperback version that has been reviewed here.
Rating = 4 out of 5 Stars
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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
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