Les Bijoux - Pl. V from "Fleurs du Mal" by Charles Baudelaire by Mariette Lydis

Les Bijoux - Pl. V from Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire by Mariette Lydis

Les Bijoux - Pl. V from "Fleurs du Mal" by Charles Baudelaire

Mariette Lydis

Title

Les Bijoux - Pl. V from "Fleurs du Mal" by Charles Baudelaire

 
Artist

Mariette Lydis

  1887 - 1970 (biography)
Year
1928  
Technique
lithograph with hand-applied color 
Image Size
6 9/16 x 5 9/16" image size 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
unnumbered; from outside of the published edition of 353 
Annotations
 
Reference
British Museum acquisition number 1935,1231.1.1-36 
Paper
Pannekoek Holland watermarked ivory wove 
State
published 
Publisher
Govone, Paris 
Inventory ID
22460 
Price
SOLD
Description

Mariette Lydis portrays a woman in casual repose, resting on her elbows with her head in her hand and an expression that could be construed as wry or seductive, depending on the mood of the viewer. This may have been a friend or a lover, as Lydis portrayed each with a sensuality that challenged the early 20th century’s views on the role of women.

Lydis was a consummate devotee of the arts, supporting friends and lovers alike in their pursuit of visual, performance, or written works that pushed the boundaries of social norms. Her own work often explored themes of female individuality, sexuality, and persecution. Here, Lydis manages a rare feat for the times’ normative social structures: a portrait of a nude woman as seen not through the eyes of a man but through the eyes of a woman, rendering the viewer unable to categorize with certainty the meaning of the composition.

In 1928 G. Govane published an illustrated version of Charles Baudelaire's famous "Les Fleurs du Mal (the Flowers of Evil)" --a series of Symbolist poems regarding decadence and eroticism in French modernity--with hand-colored lithographs by Lydis. However, as this impression features full sheet margins with no sign of being once bound or tipped-in, we wonder if perhaps there was a separate portfolio published apart from the book.