Korte beschrijving/Annotatie

Masculinities in nineteenth-century art through the lens of gender and queer history

Tekst achterflap

Male bonds were omnipresent in nineteenth-century European artistic scenes, impacting the creation, presentation, and reception of art in decisive ways. Men’s lives and careers bore the marks of their relations with other men. Yet, such male bonds are seldom acknowledged for what they are: gendered and historically determined social constructs. This volume shines a critical light on male homosociality in the arts of the long nineteenth century by combining art history with the insights of gender and queer history. From this interdisciplinary perspective, the case studies presented in this volume examine men’s relationships in a variety of contexts, which range from the Hungarian Reform Age to the Belgian fin de siècle. As a whole, the book offers a historicizing survey of the male bonds that underpinned nineteenth-century art and a thought-provoking reflection on its theoretical and methodological implications.

Slogan/Promotie

Male bonds were omnipresent in nineteenth-century European artistic scenes, impacting the creation, presentation, and reception of art in decisive ways. Men’s lives and careers bore the marks of their relations with other men. Yet, such male bonds are seldom acknowledged for what they are: gendered and historically determined social constructs. This volume shines a critical light on male homosociality in the arts of the long nineteenth century by combining art history with the insights of gender and queer history. From this interdisciplinary perspective, the case studies presented in this volume examine men’s relationships in a variety of contexts, which range from the Hungarian Reform Age to the Belgian fin de siècle. As a whole, the book offers a historicizing survey of the male bonds that underpinned nineteenth-century art and a thought-provoking reflection on its theoretical and methodological implications.

Biografie

Henk de Smaele is professor of history at the University of Antwerp. Marjan Sterckx is associate professor of art history at Ghent University. Thijs Dekeukeleire is an independent scholar who obtained his PhD in art history and history from Ghent University and the University of Antwerp.

Inhoudsopgave

Introduction Thijs Dekeukeleire, Marjan Sterckx, Henk de Smaele Bonds, bounds, and beyond Dalou’s monument to fraternity, and homosociality in nineteenth-century art Thijs Dekeukeleire, Henk de Smaele Part I: Familial bonds: Mediating masculine intimacy “Les Stevens!” Masculine bonds in a nineteenth-century artistic family Tom Verschaffel Brothers-in-law of the brush The domestic dramas of Edouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel Rachel Sloan The prodigal son revisited Male bodies and bonds in two fin de siecle sculptures by Constantin Meunier and George Minne Marjan Sterckx Part II: Coercive bonds: Disciplining the male body Alliances of virtue Hungarian (self-)Reformers and their (self-)representation at the Diet in Pressburg (1825–1827) Eva Bicskei Bazille, painter-Zouave Friendship and duty at the dawn of the Franco-Prussian War Mary Manning Undressing the army Hygiene and hierarchies in Eugene Chaperon’s The Shower in the Regiment (1887) Sean Kramer Part III: Covert bonds: Queering the nineteenth-century man Raphael, Jonah, and Antinoüs Problems of male beauty and sexuality on the grand tour Crawford Alexander Mann III Mystical manhood Whirling dervishes in the Orientalist imaginary Brigid M. Boyle Men and models of the city Eugene Jansson’s nudes Patrik Steorn Part IV: Forged bonds: Competing for each other’s attention Dressing the part Male bonding “on the motif ” in nineteenth-century France Anthea Callen Everybody’s darling Loie Fuller in service of male homosocial avant-garde identity Thomas Moser The struggle is real The wrestling groups of the antagonist sculptors Lambeaux and Van der Stappen Thijs Dekeukeleire

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