Naakte vrouwen beklimmen de fallus van een herme van Priapus 1864

Curator: This etching, dating from 1864, is titled "Naakte vrouwen beklimmen de fallus van een herme van Priapus," and it comes to us from the hand of Félicien Rops. It's currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It has a strange sort of hectic energy. You see these figures struggling to ascend what appears to be, well, a rather imposing phallus, amidst a flock of birds in flight. The red chalk gives it an unsettling rawness. What do you make of it? Curator: The work is deeply rooted in the Symbolist movement, so we must consider it within the historical context of a society grappling with burgeoning industrialization and anxieties around societal norms. Rops was fascinated by themes of eroticism and the subversion of societal morals. Priapus, of course, was the Greco-Roman god of fertility. Editor: Exactly! The medium reinforces the message. Etching allowed Rops to create these very fine lines, this intense crosshatching that amplifies the texture, the *physicality* of this struggle. He has created the image by physically abrading the plate. You get a real sense of labor. It really speaks to this period and an awareness of mass reproduction of imagery through technology. Curator: Precisely, and his art acted as a commentary on social mores, or perhaps a goad to it. We see the imagery of women actively engaging in their sexuality in the very act of seeking to ascend or perhaps conquer this symbol. The question, then, is what exactly are they ascending to, or for? Editor: Are they struggling or reveling? It is fascinating because Rops uses that ambiguity and uses it within the making to expose a certain friction of desires. It's uncomfortable and compelling. It confronts the very way societal standards are literally constructed and performed, doesn’t it? Curator: Absolutely. Rops challenges viewers to confront the complexities and contradictions within themselves and the society they helped build. It speaks to his views on institutions and morality. Editor: The materials are telling! It reminds us that these values aren’t simply handed down, they’re manufactured, they're wrought—like this print. Curator: A remarkable synthesis of artistic technique and sociocultural critique. It really encourages a look into how societal dynamics operate, especially in the historical context of Rops’ era. Editor: A brilliant example of how printmaking isn’t merely reproductive, but also deeply, almost aggressively, productive.