Maiden or Boy? Androgyny and Misogyny in Symbolist Art

The “New Woman,” a term coined by Sarah Grand in 1894, became a buzzword for women who adopted traditionally masculine traits such as ambition, independence, and virility. The “dandy,” on the other hand, was viewed as a feminized man, embodying lofty intellectualism and the elevation of aesthetics, passion, elegance, and leisure. Disturbances to traditional gender dynamics, interwoven in a tapestry of revised religion, mythologies, and philosophy, provided a vehicle for artists to either challenge or reinforce binary archetypes.

Delville and Burne-Jones, amongst many Symbolist artists, demonstrated an interest in the revival of mysticism, Hellenic hermeticism, spiritualism, and the occult, amongst a myriad of manifestations of alternative spirituality that emerged in late nineteenth-century Europe. Various societies and organizations centering on esoteric ideas and ancient philosophies surfaced, drawing on gnostic practices as a foundation on which to achieve spiritual transcendence and psychic powers. Of these societies, the Order of the Rose Croix was distinctive in its aim of informing the moral value of art. Based on the occult teachings of the Rosicrucian Order that originated in the 17th century, the Order of the Rose Croix emphasized spiritual and social reformation. Its founder, Joséphin Péladan, who purposefully feminized his name, spearheaded a series of exhibitions known as the Salon de la Rose+Croix between 1892 and 1897.

Prominent Symbolists from across Europe participated, including Delville, Fernand Khnopff, Carlos Schwabe, and Gustave Moreau. Burne-Jones had also received an invitation to participate but declined. Péladan and his cohort of mystical Symbolists rejected the trend towards the secularization of art, manifesting in movements such as Realism and Post-Impressionism, and instead aspired to showcase art that was perceived to encourage morality in what was thought to be a degenerating society. The rejection of the material world in favor of “the Idea” as the subject matter was one of the distinguishing features of Symbolism, and hence, the movement aligned succinctly with Péladan’s vision of transcendence and the renunciation of secular materialism. He believed that art reflected a society’s spirit and, accordingly, curated a visual culture that bolstered values of tradition, hierarchy, idealism, and the metaphysical quest for spiritual truths. Esotericism was the ideal vehicle for melding science, evolutionary theory, and spirituality to renew spiritual ambition in the wake of declining religious fervor. 

It was important for Péladan to progress the Decadent artistic culture away from an emphasis on indulgence in the flesh and carnal pursuits and towards didactic moralism. Therefore, a significant aspect of the imagery collated was the representation of both idealized and degraded female archetypes, seen to either uphold chastity or translate the horrors of sexual perversity through their masculinization.

In many artworks selected, women were depicted as sexually passive and subservient to men, reflecting deep-rooted fears of women’s increasing demands for individuality, rights, and liberation. In response to this, Péladan, and many of the artists associated with him, promoted the common idea that the suppression of women’s individualism was fundamental to combatting the horrors of sexual degeneration and the disintegration of traditional social, religious, and moral structures. Simultaneously, physical beauty was regarded as reflecting spiritual purity, positioning women in a paradox of embodying both attractiveness and asexuality; purity without sacrificing desirability. This convoluted ideal of women as passively available yet void of desire, a femme fragile, juxtaposed the categorization of women as a femme fatale, who actively threatened the moral fiber of men and the decency of society. 

The use of sexualized female imagery to suggest lust, death, and destruction in contrast to ideal womanhood was used to great effect by prominent Symbolist artists across Europe. Notably, Schwabe prolifically depicted monstrous, deviant, masculinized, and infanticidal women, such as the above illustration of a gargantuan woman looming over the city wielding dead babies. This archetype contrasted the well-established depiction of ideal womanhood as encompassing virginity and purity through to motherhood and servitude that depended on the universalization of women’s historical representation and experience. The extension of traditional archetypes aimed to portray a juxtaposed view of women that explicitly evoked evil, destruction, and sexual perversity. Although reflective of medieval iconography, religious mythologies, and esotericism, the contemporary shift in ideas surrounding gender formed a visual and artistic culture that was distinctively rooted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

For Péladan and those associated with him, the androgyne was viewed as the ideal form according to the hermetic principle of the unified male and female from which Adam and Eve were split. In this iteration of the creation myth, corporeality, the soul, and the immortal spirit could not be divided equally between the male and female forms, and therefore, man inherited the spirit and the mind and woman inherited the body and earthly, baser, qualities. In this regard, women were closer to beasts, as illustrated by Khnopff in his depiction of the divine androgynous male holding his hand over a beastly woman.

The principle of the divine hermaphrodite and subsequent separation of genders echoed throughout fin de siècle art, leading to the depiction of androgyny as indicative of spiritual wholeness for male bodies, and degeneracy for female bodies. Whilst seemingly reflected in society as progressive and radical, its translation through art and literature often upheld the misogynist standards of the period.