Ornamentation and the Void in the Works of Huysmans, Rachilde, Beardsley, and Klimt

Amy Simmons

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Reid, Amy

Keywords

Ornamentation, Huysmans, Joris-Karl, Rachilde, Beardsley, Aubrey, Klimt, Gustave

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis explores ornamentation in its various forms as exhibited in the works of four fin de siecle artists--two French authors, Joris-Karl Huysmans and Rachilde, one English illustrator, Aubrey Beardsley, and one Austrian painter, Guftve Klimt--each noted for their stylistic attention to detail. Despite the obvious differences in their arts, all these artists share a tendency to excessively embellish their work. Huysmans devotes entire chapters to descriptions of colors and smells while practically abandoning plot, and Klimt fills his portraits with decorative shapes and lines to the point of obscuring his figures. I argue that the unrestrained and proliferating ornamentation evident in the works examined here serves to cover over and compensate for a loss of meaning or 'lack' that had begun to take form in the pre-modernist world of the fin de siecle.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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