The "Dance of the Seven Veils". Salome and Erotic Culture around 1900

Abstract

The theme of the paper is dedicated to the numerous and contradicting representations of Salome as a historical and legendary image. Beginning in medieval and post-medieval art (Lucas Cranach, Bernardino Luini, Guido Reni) the approach is disciplinary, including the visual arts, literature, music and film, as well as interrelations between these media. The transformations in the 19th century in literature (Heinrich Heine, Gustave Flaubert. J.-K. Huysmans and Stephane Mallarme) expand to the artists of the Salon (Gustave Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes) and manifested in a culmination in the "Gesamtkunstwerk" of Oscar Wilde, Richard Strauss and Aubrey Beardsley, merging theatre, music and the visual arts. The ongoing fame of the theme expanded in performances in music halls (Lois Fuller, Maud Allan, Mata Hari, Ida Rubinstein, Colette) to find a fascinating continuation in the new medium of film (Nazimova). The theme is analysed in its relevance for the contemporary situation of the position of women in the final chapter "Unveiling Salome".