Women and Dance: Seduction and Corruption in 19th century French Literature and Art

Women and Dance: Seduction and Corruption in 19th century French Literature and Art

The female body has been of interest to artists throughout history, the image of the female body changing with times and cultures. A shift of particular interest to this study is the shift from the view of the female body as one of ethereal beauty in the Romantic era that took place mid-century when the Realist/Naturalist period gained momentum. When images of the female dancer in the fiction, poetry, and art of the period are isolated, this shift becomes more apparent. The shift mirrors the phenomenon in the dance world of the time which “feminized” the idea of ballet, and not necessarily in an effort to give women their due as ballet artists. Instead, the shift reduces them to the sum total of their bodies as vehicles for the pleasure of the male gaze, and as potentially corrupting influences on the male writer/artist.

Allen, Amy

Rider University

Baccalaureate Honors Program

Adobe Acrobat PDF

English

Capstone