The Devil's Lovers

DIABOLICAL BEAUTY COMES TO DOWNTOWN ARKHAM
The Devil’s Lovers: the Erotic Art of Félicien Rops
on view at the Pickman Gallery from February 8 to April 13, 2017

Arkham, MA (Feb 1, 2017)— On view from February 8 through April 13, 2017, at Pickman Gallery, Arkham, MA, The Devil’s Lovers: the Erotic Art of Félicien Rops showcases the work of the renowned Belgian illustrator, engraver, and printmaker, exploring the themes of death and eroticism, and the defiance inherent to Satanic symbolism that is essential to his work. The Devil’s Lovers was generously lent to Pickman Gallery from Abbess Madgalena Eva of Łódź‘s private collection, which was previously housed by Le Couvent des Sœurs du Plaisir du Diable in Brussels.

Rops spent two years in Belgium evading creditors, where he fell under the spell of the poet Charles Baudelaire. Their friendship profoundly affected Rops’ aesthetic, and he began to express his own tortured misanthropy through macabre erotic illustrations and his social observations through sex-charged grotesqueries and Baudelarian phantasmagoria. This collection of Rops’ artwork is a celebration of death, sex, and political and social rebellion, all reflected through a distinctly Mephistophelean lens.

A private reception and Black Mass will be held at Pickman Gallery during the lunar eclipse on February 11, 2017, from midnight until 3am. RSVP required. Refreshments provided by Dagon Hollow Vineyard, Zadok’s Sushi Barn, and the Old Arkham Cheese Shoppe. The reception will be preceded by an open-air lecture in the galley veranda, “Power and Sexuality Among Society’s Disinherited”.

Sponsorship

The Devil’s Lovers was made possible by the charitable support of Elizabeth Barrial, director of the Black Phoenix Foundation for the Arts, and TJ Barrial, Visual Arts Professor and Department Chair at the Dunwich Academy of Arts, and a grant generously provided by the Arkham Women’s Knitting Club and Social. The exhibition was organized for the Celephaïs Athenæum by Brian Constantine, Curator of Sculpture for the Clark Ashton Smith Memorial Gallery.

About the Pickman Gallery

The Pickman Gallery is the Miskatonic Valley’s premier privately-owned art gallery. Founded in 1923 by interdimensionally renowned portrait artist Richard Upton Pickman, the Gallery offers the Miskatonic Valley community a dynamic roster of stimulating, dread-provoking exhibitions and enriching public programs. Though the Pickman generally focuses on Aestheticism and Decadence, nearly all artistic movements have been represented throughout the years. Exhibitions organized by the Pickman have featured the works of both local and international artists, and have encompassed all of the visual arts, including printmaking, photography, sculpture, video, film, and performance.

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