#decadence

[charnel-grounds]

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (1859–1923)

illustration to “L’Éternelle Poupée” by Jules Bois

Gil Blas illustré #10, March 11, 1894 — source

[defautumn]

[7pleiades7]

The Roses of Heliogabalus, (detail), (1888), by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dutch, 1836 – 1912), oil on canvas, 132.7 cm × 214.4 cm (52.2 in × 84.4 in), Private Collection

[frithurikja]

Takato Yamamoto - Paradise Dissection (2008).

[diana-andraste]

The Final Orgasm, illustration for the RE/Search edition of Octave Mirbeau's The Torture Garden, 1989

Photo by Bobby Neel Adams

[valentineua]

Resistance, or The Black Idol (1900) - Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957)

[bitter69uk]

“Querelle, a strange blend of sodomy and homicide, is alternately appealing, intriguing and silly. Brad Davis is cast in the title role, that of a seagoing sexpot who’s desired by all of the principal characters and by several of the minor ones, as well … The action transpires on campy, blatantly artificial sets straight out of an MGM musical from the forties. (The lighting, too, is garishly theatrical). The soundstage is swarming with sweaty semi-nude sailors. The mooring posts on the dock are unmistakably phallic. Even the swooping Art Nouveau ornamentation on the windows is obscenely suggestive. Anything, apparently for erotic effect … we get the feeling that if they upped the decadence by one iota, the screen would start oozing fungus …”

/ Author Paul Roen reflecting on Querelle in his 1994 book High Camp: A Gay Guide to Camp and Cult Films, Volume 1 /

“The idea of murder often evokes the idea of sea and seafarers ...” opens Querelle of Brest, French literary bad boy Jean Genet’s notorious novel (written in 1947, published in 1953). It’s also the opening line of Querelle (1982), the great maverick German director Rainer Werner’s Fassbinder’s final film (he died of a drug overdose aged just 37 before it premiered) – which opened in French cinemas on this day (8 September 1982). Starring rugged Brad Davis in the lead role, Franco Nero and then-reigning queen of European art cinema Jeanne Moreau, Querelle is a fascinating, hallucinatory experiment, a powerful study of decadence and a feverish (wet) dream of a movie! Pictured: Davis and Fassbinder conferring during production of Querelle. Now sing along with me: “Each man kills the thing he loves …”