Felicien Rops: Laboratory Of Desires

Beyer, Jonas (Editor)/ Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft (Editor)/ Heesch, Daan van (Editor)

ISBN 10: 377744748X / ISBN 13: 9783777447483

Published by Hirmer Verlag, 2026

About this Item

208 pages. 9.13x10.59x0.87 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __377744748X

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Felicien Rops: Laboratory Of Desires
• Publisher: Hirmer Verlag
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 377744748X
• ISBN 13: 9783777447483
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.45 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

A master of Belgian Symbolism, rediscovered. 

Félicien Rops’s (1833–98) erotic works remain provocative today―in the nineteenth century, they transgressed every boundary of art. With a keen eye and a sharp pen, Rops exposed the hypocrisies of the respectable middle class. “I am Rops, and I wish to be no other!” he declared and adhered to this maxim throughout his life.

The most poisonous berry of Symbolism, a scourge of the bourgeoisie―many terms have been used to describe Rops’s radical art. Celebrated by writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Joris-Karl Huysmans, he was a transgressive figure who deliberately aimed his works against the double standards of bourgeois society. His pictures, which represent a high point of printmaking and draftsmanship from the period, invite a critical examination of fin-de-siècle social attitudes, particularly with regard to gender roles.

About the Authors

Jonas Beyer has been a curator at the Kunsthaus Zürich since 2018. 

Daan van Heesch has been director of the graphic collection at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels since 2020.