Art Nouveau and the Erotic [Hardcover]

Ghislaine Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

The swirling sensuous forms of the Art Nouveau style are synonymous with the erotic. This provocative book, bursting with groundbreaking sensual images, shows how artists and designers from Aubrey Beardsley to Gustav Klimt explored and exploited the idea of the erotic in their creative endeavors.

Ghislaine Wood uses a wide range of paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photographs, and more-many from the superb collections of London's Victoria & Albert Museum-to illustrate the risqu, often shockingly explicit content of many works from a time of sexual license and decadent extravagance. Visually arresting and well-priced, this complement to the main exhibition catalogue is not only for lovers of Art Nouveau but also for the vast audience for books on erotic art.

GHISLAINE WOOD is assistant curator of the major exhibition on Art Nouveau at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and a contributor to the book Art Nouveau, 1890-1914. She lives in London.

80 illustrations, 60 in full color, 73/8 x 81/4

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810942135
• ISBN-13: 978-0810942134
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,537 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A titillating gem and an invaluable secondary resource ..., March 11, 2006

By 

Shannon Leigh O'Neil (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Nouveau and the Erotic (Hardcover)

Both scholarly and superficially exciting, Art Nouveau and the Erotic presents a comprehensive look at the seductive iconography of the Art Nouveau style. Ghislaine Wood argues that "only Imperial Rome and the end of France's Ancien Regime begin to rival (the period's) hedonism" and illustrates her point with a tantalizing array of images. Neglecting neither the familiar (Beardsley, Klimt, Mucha) nor the comparatively obscure (Bouval, Day, Carabin), Wood vividly demonstrates the fin de siecle preoccupation with sexuality. Leaving no stone unturned, she explores feminist, homoerotic and androgynous perspectives, giving much needed exposure to marginalized artists who were once considered highly provocative. In comparison to other scholarly material, Art Nouveau and the Erotic is an invaluable secondary resource. With an inviting, accessible text, it is also well-suited to the mainstream reader.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and well illustrated., February 11, 2007

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Art Nouveau and the Erotic (Hardcover)

This brief book (or sustained essay) cover wide ranges in many directions. One axis covers many media, including painting, jewelry, furniture, printmaking, sculpture, architecture, and photography. In another direction, this book spans sensuality, blatant eroticism, commercialism, romantic appeal, and a topic or two that I found disturbing. Some, like Klimt's "Danae" on the cover, fall into more than one of those categories.

Wood's commentary is helpful but secondary. It establishes some of the historical context in which the collected pieces arose. The text also shows relationships between this book's visual art and contemporary work in dance, writing, and theater. The artworks themselves are what matter to me, though, including many works and artists with which I was unfamiliar. Pieces like Courbet's "L'Origine du Monde", Rodin's "Iris", and Carabin's carvings are a bit much for many venues, so I'm very glad to see them presented here. And I see why the Nouveau movement passed so quickly - Wood points out clearly that its sensuality inevitably led to a buttoned-down backlash that wouldn't even name the target of its objections. Although this presents a limited and one-sided view of Art Nouveau, it presents a new and interesting view.

//wiredweird

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Art Nouveau and the Erotic, September 19, 2005

By 

Book Worm (Knoxville, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Nouveau and the Erotic (Hardcover)

Very interesting review of the Art Nouveau period, plus additional historical and period information not always included in overviews of this period of art and history.