Male Bonds in Nineteenth-Century Art

Thijs Dekeukeleire is an independent scholar who obtained his PhD in art history and history from Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. Henk de Smaele is professor of history at the University of Antwerp. Marjan Sterckx is associate professor of art history at Ghent University.

• Introduction Thijs Dekeukeleire, Marjan Sterckx, Henk de SmaeleBonds, bounds, and beyond Dalou’s monument to fraternity, and homosociality in nineteenth-century art Thijs Dekeukeleire, Henk de SmaelePart I: Familial bonds: Mediating masculine intimacy“Les Stevens!” Masculine bonds in a nineteenth-century artistic family Tom VerschaffelBrothers-in-law of the brush The domestic dramas of Edouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier RousselRachel SloanThe prodigal son revisited Male bodies and bonds in two fin de siecle sculptures by Constantin Meunier and George Minne Marjan SterckxPart II: Coercive bonds: Disciplining the male bodyAlliances of virtue Hungarian (self-)Reformers and their (self-)representation at the Diet in Pressburg (1825–1827) Eva BicskeiBazille, painter-Zouave Friendship and duty at the dawn of the Franco-Prussian WarMary ManningUndressing the army Hygiene and hierarchies in Eugene Chaperon’s The Shower in the Regiment (1887)Sean KramerPart III: Covert bonds: Queering the nineteenth-century manRaphael, Jonah, and Antinoüs Problems of male beauty and sexuality on the grand tour Crawford Alexander Mann IIIMystical manhood Whirling dervishes in the Orientalist imaginaryBrigid M. BoyleMen and models of the city Eugene Jansson’s nudesPatrik SteornPart IV: Forged bonds: Competing for each other’s attentionDressing the part Male bonding “on the motif ” in nineteenth-century FranceAnthea CallenEverybody’s darling Loie Fuller in service of male homosocial avant-garde identityThomas MoserThe struggle is real The wrestling groups of the antagonist sculptors Lambeaux and Van der StappenThijs Dekeukeleire

This book makes an important contribution to the growing literature on homosociality and its representations in the modern era. It convincingly demonstrates that there were myriad kinds of bonds that connected male artists—familial, sexual, cultural, and otherwise—and that an exploration of these connections further illuminates the rich and complex art world of nineteenth-century Europe."Heather Belnap, Brigham Young University