From Lysistrata to Cydalise- Beardsley, von Bayros & Traynier

Beardsley, engraving of Lysistrata for Lysistrata

In 1975, the artist, lecturer and art historian Peter Webb wrote about the work of the Austrian illustrator Franz von Bayros, describing his illustrations of erotic literature and his “skilful drawings that reflected fin-de-siecle extravagance and showed a great debt to Aubrey Beardsley. He conjured up a world of guiltless sex, a carefree world of sexual pleasure only occasionally marred by harsher realities.” Von Bayros’ inspiration by Beardsley (as well- to a lesser extent- by Felicien Rops) is clear, but it struck me recently, when working on my study In the Garden of Eros, how their influences might also be traced to Jean Traynier, illustrator of Cydalise by Pierre Louys.

Beardsley, engraving for Lysistrata

Aubrey Beardsley was a self-taught artist who had learned his craft from studying illustrated books and ancient Greek painted vases. He was inspired and encouraged by Edward Burne-Jones, but (as Edward Lucie-Smith wrote in Symbolist Art) the young man emphasised what was perverse in the older painter’s work. Beardsley is known for his sharp penwork, his “linear arabesque,” which he balanced against bold contrasts of black and white. Lucie Smith described how Beardsley was a natural illustrator, able to “think of the design as something written on a surface, whose essential flatness must be preserved in order to balance the type which appear either on the same page or on a facing page.” He was a founder of the Art Nouveau style, hugely influential across Europe, and, through his work, book illustration came to be dominated by the new Symbolist and Art Nouveau ideas: “Partly art and partly craft, illustration rapidly assimilated itself” to the new decorative movement- as we have seen, for example, with Henri Caruchet.

Beardsley is renowned for the highly erotic nature of much of his illustration. His work on Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata (1905) is characterised, in particular, by men caricatured with enormous phalluses and, quite commonly, large, mature women with big bosoms and bottoms. He depicted sexuality and bodily functions with a startling honesty that offended many at the time. Webb was perfectly correct to spot the lineal influence, for the work of von Bayros bears many close parallels with that of Beardsley: not only is his sharp graphic work comparable (both artists depicted fabrics in a masterly fashion), but there are the exaggerated phalli (which may also be found in Rops), the obese and lascivious women, the preternatural and precocious children, and (even) in one plate, from his collection Im Garten der Aphrodite, a scene in which woman ecstatically rubs herself along a taut rope (something which instantly reminded me of the engraving of ‘Two Athenian women in distress’ from Lysistrata reproduced above). Odd forms of excitement like this are typical of the illustrator’s images: compare as well ‘Le Collier‘ (The Necklace) from von Bayros’ portfolio of 16 prints produced under the pseudonym of Chevalier de Bouval in about 1925.

Beardsley, The Climax, 1893

Both Beardsley and von Bayros illustrated Salome and John the Baptist- in the case of Beardsley, for Oscar Wilde’s play Salome (1896). Each artist also detected and portrayed something unwholesomely sexual in the relationship between the princess and the executed prophet- in one plate by von Bayros he showed Salome breast-feeding the severed head of the Baptist, which lies on a plate. Decapitated heads and skulls were, in fact, common in the Austrian’s’ work, another part of the cloying atmosphere of macabre perversity that he constructed.

print by von Bayros

These two earlier artists seem to have provided clear models for Jean Traynier when he came to taking on erotic works such as Louys’ Cydalise in 1949 and a 1957 edition of Point de Lendemain, ou la nuit merveilleuse (No Tomorrow, or the Wonderful Night) by Dominique-Vivant Denon (1747-1825). In the case of the latter, the eighteenth century setting reminds me of many works by von Bayros, such as his 1905 portfolio Fleurettens Purpurschnecke- Erotische Lieder und Gedichte (Fleurette’s Purple Snail- Erotic Songs and Poems from the Eighteenth Century) and John Cleland’s novel, Die Memoiren der Fanny Hill (1906). In part, these images simply mirror the era of the works being illustrated, but their erotic nature (and that of other writers such as Laclos and de Sade) generally imparted an aura of licentiousness to the entire period- so that wigs and beauty spots came to act as visual symbols for a certain liberated sexuality: Beardsley’s plates for The Rape of the Lock, as well as the general mood of his Lysistrata, are cases in point; in addition, see my book, Voyage to the Isle of Venus.

von Bayros, illustration for John Cleland’s Fanny Hill

As for Traynier’s monochrome engravings for Cydalise, two of the plates feature exaggerated, ‘fantasy’ phalli directly comparable to those seen in Lysistrata, and surely inspired by them, possibly by way of either von Bayros or Rops- or just as likely directly. Comparable ‘erotic dream’ images, albeit in very different styles, may be found in the 1932 edition of Pybrac by the Czech surrealist Toyen and in recent work by the British graphic artist Trevor Brown. In addition, the black and white style adopted for both works by Traynier repeats that of von Bayros and Beardsley, suggesting that, for him, it seemed suitable for depicting powerfully erotic scenes. Another small detail which may indicate a derivation from Beardsley’s Lysistrata are the many bows the decorate the hair of Traynier’s female figures- an elaborate and distinctive touch.

The influence of von Bayros might also be traced in similar details. I have discussed previously the pseudonymous erotic illustrator Fameni Leporini. The impact of Claude Bornet’s 1790s illustrations to de Sade seems clear, as both opt for naked bodies stacked up improbably in their renderings of orgies, but the morbid mood of von Bayros may also be detected. Leporini, too, preferred pen and ink for his designs and we may identify in them various traits and details that appear to have been borrowed from the Austrian: the mood of perverse cruelty and of lesbian passion that suffuses a good deal of his work and certain specific scenes which could be derived more directly from examples by von Bayros.

Three ‘new’ books just published

I have for some months been working on revising several books on art and literary history that I wrote over the last few years. My ongoing researches especially into the work of Pierre Louys and the illustrators of his prose and poetry, has produced considerable new material that I wished to add to the existing titles. I have now republished three of these books, with new titles, and they are available as paperbacks and Kindle e-books through Amazon.

The titles are A Voyage to the Isle of Venus- Greuze, de Sade & Libertinism in Enlightenment Art, which is a study of eighteenth century art and sculpture in the context of some of the novels, poetry and memoirs of the period- a subject touched on in a number of my posts here; Eat Me: When Alice Grew Up: Or, How the Modern World Consumed Wonderland & Its Creator which is a study of how Lewis Carroll/ Charles Dodgson, and his greatest creation, Alice, have been reinterpreted and re-used over the last century; and, ‘Cherry Ripe’- Decadence, Classicism and Fantasy in Late Victorian Art, an examination of various issues in Victorian painting in Britain and Europe. This last book deals with many of the artists I have discussed over the last few years, such as Alma Tadema and William Stephen Coleman. Further details of the titles are available on my books page.

Viennese Decadence- the art of Franz von Bayros

Dante’s Inferno, canto 19

Vienna at the turn of the last century still retains for us an aura of decadence and bohemianism. This is derived from a number of sources- the famous paintings of Gustav Klimt (and a little later, those of Egon Schiele); the researches of Sigmund Freud into the unconscious and the nature of sexuality; the writing of Felix Salten and his outrageous pretend biography of prostitute Josefine Mutzenbacher.

Another, less well known strand in this aura of fin-de-siecle debauchery must be the art of Franz von Bayros, although his collections of prints are far less well known than the paintings of Klimt and Schiele.

The artist in 1898

Some artists dare to be as explicit and as provocative as possible. Unquestionably, Franz von Bayros (1866-1924) was one of these. He was a commercial artist, illustrator and painter who is usually classed as part of the Decadent movement and who regularly utilised erotic themes and fantastic imagery. The explicit content of his phantasmagoric erotic illustrations mean that von Bayros is often compared to Félicien Rops and Aubrey Beardsley, yet he is probably more scandalous than either of them. He was often called ‘Marquis Bayros’ in reference to the Marquis de Sade.

Bayros was born into a Spanish noble family in Zagreb, which was at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and, aged seventeen, he entered the Vienna Academy, where his friends included Johann Strauss. After the breakdown of a marriage, Bayros moved to Munich to continue his art studies. He subsequently travelled and exhibited widely in Europe, staging his first exhibition of work in 1904. Thereafter, he embarked upon a career illustrating books, particularly those with an erotic content, such as Fanny Hill which was published in 1906. He also designed portfolios of his own erotic fantasy art. In 1911 Bayros published his most famous and controversial work, the portfolio Erzählungen am Toilettentische (Tales from the Dressing Table). This collection featured extensive scenes of lesbian bondage, group sex, and sado-masochism- themes that dominate his entire output. It was possibly unsurprising that he was later arrested and prosecuted by the state censor, leading to his exile from Germany. He returned to Vienna, but felt increasingly depressed and alienated.

Von Bayros produced a stream of erotic prints (albeit in quite limited editions) during the first decades of the twentieth century. These began with the 1905 collection Fleurettens Purpurschnecke (‘Fleurette’s Purple Snail- Songs and Poems from the Eighteenth Century’), a limited-edition portfolio of black and white drawings illustrating eighteenth century ‘Erotische Lieder und Gedichte’ (Erotic Poems and Stories).

In 1907 he issued four collections- the Geschichten aus Aretino (Stories from Aretino) of fifteen engravings; Die hübsche Andalusierin (The Pretty Andalucian Girl), which follows the sexual life of a woman called Aldonza; Die Grenouillère, the French title of which refers to a one-piece pyjama suit but has the sense of the English colloquial ‘birthday suit’- in other words, nudity; and Die Bonbonnière (The Box of Sweets), comprising two portfolios of six prints each, the etchings being accompanied by short poems.

The White Peacock

Erzählungen am Toilettentische was published under the name of ‘Choisy le Conin’, which von Bayros had adopted for the French market- partly to appeal to a Francophone public and partly to conceal his true identity. However, the cover of the collection stated his true name, leading to the censorship action in Munich over the sexual content. The Geschichte der Zairette, also released in 1911, likewise includes a high degree of adult lesbian erotica.

Bilder aus dem Boudoir der Madame CC (Pictures from the Boudoir of Madame CC), was privately published in 1912 and was a collection of thirty existing etchings, brought together under a suggestive title. The images include a mix of heterosexual and lesbian activity with a good deal of fetish bondage. Im Garten der Aphrodite (In Aphrodite’s Garden) was a portfolio from 1910 comprising eighteen etchings which was published at the same time as Bilder aus dem Boudoir and shared nine images with it. It largely depicts adult women seducing younger girls. Finally, Lesbischer Reigen (Lesbian Roundelay) was published in 1920. It was von Bayros’ last erotic portfolio, comprising just six etchings, and shows adult female couples. Von Bayros’ work for private clients is also highly enlightening. He was commissioned to design numerous ex libris book plates, and these were uniformly erotic in content. Inevitably, his clients shared his strange erotic tastes: for example, Stephan Kellner’s 1910 library plate pictures a girl crouching naked in front of a large snake.

A 1911 bookplate

Another late work by von Bayros is the three volume Bayros Mappe set, published in about 1920. It returns to book illustration, with one volume focused upon the legend of Isolde and another comprising six coloured drawings on the subject of Salome, a Decadent favourite. He then illustrated Dante’s Divine Comedy in 1921, not a surprising choice perhaps. Sinnlicher Reigen– ‘Sensual Dance (Pan)’- is another colour image of the same date as the Bayros Mappe. It is a more typically bizarre von Bayros scene, which is taking place in the porch of an elegant house. The focus is Pan, a huge hooved figure, who is dancing arms linked with two women. One is fully clothed in black, including a hat and coat, and is rather calm and static; the other is naked except for her white high heels and is cavorting excitedly. In the foreground, with her back to us, is a young plump fauness, naked and with her golden hair in a bun. The juxtapositions of clothed and naked, young and old, human and mythical, coupled with an ambiguous atmosphere of sensuality, are typical of the artist. You are often unsure whether we are witnessing scenes in the real world or in some sort of febrile dream.

While von Bayros had risen to the highest cultural and artistic circles in Munich, it was difficult for him to re-establish himself in Vienna. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 prevented a long-planned for emigration to Rome. The defeat and collapse of Germany and Austria in 1918 led to severe depressions in the last years of his life. Although he enjoyed considerable success with his beautiful watercolour illustrations for the Divine Comedy, the work on the drawings exhausted him both physically and mentally. Devaluation of the Austrian currency added to his problems and von Bayros died in poverty in Vienna in 1924. One of his very last publications, a portfolio of sixteen prints issued in 1925 under the name of the Chevalier de Bouval, is typical of von Bayros’ entire output: it features solely women, seen occasionally alone but usually in pairs in bedrooms, where they engage in a range of more or less unusual practices together. The engravings are all completed in the artist’s typical style of very fine penwork, attention to detail and rich depiction of fabrics- whether voluminous lacy dresses or the cushions upon which the figures recline.

The reputation of Von Bayros has risen in recent decades as there has been a rediscovery of his weird and decadent art. He has been praised for “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 where sexual perversity is rife, and the byword is luxurious decadence.” The world that von Bayros imagined was radically at odds with the bourgeois society he knew and whose members purchased his works. His women seem to be part of that world, yet they actually inhabit a parallel existence where men are largely absent and strange fetishes and practices dominate. I think that, alongside the clear eroticism of von Bayros’ work, there is also a strand of bizarre humour, an element which must be considered when assessing the overall tone of his work.

The work of von Bayros may profitably be compared to that of the closely contemporary Martin van Maële. The latter’s collection of forty drawings, La Grande Danse macabre des vifs, was published in Brussels in 1905 by erotic specialist Charles Carrington. This ‘dance macabre’ examined in frank, if blackly comedic, detail a wide range of sexual preferences, including juvenile explorations, rape, oral sex, lesbian encounters and age-discrepant desire. In very many respects, van Maële’s baroque and uninhibited fantasies parallel the contemporary erotic visions of von Bayros. Both reveal something of the psyche of the age, crystallising or laying bare attitudes and appetites which were generally hidden but which, in visual form, were far less mediated or disguised.

I have refrained from reproducing illustrations from the portfolios such as Erzählungen am Toilettentische and Im Garten der Aphrodite, but von Bayros’ work is readily available online, from art and antique dealers and book sellers, and from Amazon and the like in the form of collections of his pictures. For more discussion of the works of von Bayros in their wider context, see my book In the Garden of Eros, available as a paperback and Kindle e-book from Amazon.