Michel Fingesten (Germany, 1884-1943), Ex Musicis, 1933
Bookplate, 7 1/2" x 8 1/4" (402R F4973.72)
Erotica and Music: Works of Art from The Kinsey Institute Collection
Catherine Johnson-Roehr, Curator
Any discussion of music and eroticism leads inevitably beyond the boundaries of the musical and literary themes that make up the core of the topic. Originally conceived as a collaboration between musicological scholarship and historical performance, Project Eros and Euterpe quickly expanded to take advantage of the resources of the Kinsey Institute, widening its perspective to include a wealth of visual images celebrating the body musical.
Although none of the images in the Kinsey Institute collection is contemporary with the music that is at the center of Project Eros and Euterpe, the visual themes represented are remarkably close to those that either motivate the music or which the music and its texts evoke: Neo-Classical images of Greek gods such as Apollo with his lyre; Arcadian pastoral figures playing wind instruments; the dance, with its celebration of the body moved by music; music as the go-between that eases romantic seduction; and the body as plaything, musical and erotic (see Moment musical, below).
Not surprisingly, many of the images in the Kinsey collection link music and literature: the emblem for the conference is a play on the ex libris, and a number of the images on display are bookplates that draw on the combined imagery of the body and music, often in humorous or particularly ribald ways as a private reminder to the bibliophile that the senses are very much alive even in the intellectual privacy of one's library. And then, of course, there are illustrations from literary works, in which music has long had an important part in the intimacy of the boudoir. Indeed, music has often been associated with moral decay: just as in the Renaissance and early Baroque, when the mere appearance of a lute could symbolize loose sexual behavior and the devil was often not far behind, so the leering beelzebub in the poster "Jazz" leaves no doubt about where this new music would lead its fans.
--Massimo Ossi
Michel Fingesten Moment musical, 1941
Bookplate, 12 1/8" x 9 7/8" (402R F4793.47)
is organized by
Massimo Ossi (Department of Musicology) and Wendy Gillespie (Early Music Institute)
Catherine Johnson-Roehr (Kinsey Institute), exhibition curator
And is sponsored by
and
With financial support from
The College Arts and Humanities Institute, The office of the Vice President for Research,
and
of
Last updated: 31 January 2004, 7:25 pm
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