Madame X

One of my favourite stories of Women in paintings is that of Madame X.

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925) was an American realist painter, and a leading portrait painter of his age. His most controversial work was Portrait of Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), which was painted in 1884. She was Virginie Amélie Avegno, a New Orleans native who became the toast of Paris (where she moved after marrying banker and shipping magnate, Pierre-Louis Gautreau) because of her social-skills, distinctive American beauty, and alleged lavender-like skin.

Madame X was painted not as a commission, but at the request of Sargent. However, Amelie did not give in that easily to Sargent's repeated pleadings for a portrait. Although he was then becoming more popular as an artist, triumphing at the Paris Salon of 1884, she made him wait for two years. The famous socialite was after all the crème de la crème.

It took well over a year to complete the painting, as she was an impatient sitter, busy with her family and social commitments. The first version of the portrait of Madame Gautreau was a study in opposition; a classical pose of plunging neckline, tight black satin dress, cinched waist, white-powdered skin, and an arrogantly cocked head half turned away from the gaze of the viewer. Controversially for the times, she had chosen to consent to being portrayed with an off-the-shoulder jeweled strap (suggesting the possibility of further revealing), which made the overall effect even more daring and sensual. Madame Gautreau regarded Sargent’s work as a masterpiece.

When the painting was finally unveiled in the Salon of 1884, it led to a huge public scandal and unprecedented criticisms (not least from art critics and the sitter’s relatives) due to its perceived salaciousness and risque expression. Later, Sargent felt compelled to over-paint the bared right shoulder of his portrait with a matching strap, which is the painting as we know it today. He also changed the work’s title from the original Portrait de Mme *** to Madame X; a name more assertive, dramatic and mysterious - and, by accenting the impersonal, presenting the illusion of the Female Archetype.

For Sargent, the scandal resulting from the painting's controversial reception amounted to a failure of his plans to build a long-term career as a portrait painter in France. Consequently, he was to move to London permanently. For her part, Amelie was utterly humiliated by the affair and did not recover from the social breakdown despite several attempts to reclaim her position in high society. She eventually became a recluse.

This is a photograph of the painting as it originally hung at the salon with the strap off the shoulder - much more daring!

The Book of Idolatry

Bruno Schulz ~ Self-Portrait

The art of Bruno Schulz (1892 - 1942) encompasses an intimate and personal world of literature, drawings and paintings. His artwork is quite like no other. As his self-portraits suggest, Schulz was a reflective, introverted soul whose geographical world was centred within the limits of his provincial town, Drohobych, in south-eastern Poland at a time when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Ukraine), where he lived, worked and tragically died when he was shot by a Gestapo officer.

Procession

Known as the “Polish Kafka”, Schulz was widely regarded as one of the greatest prose stylists of the 20th century (The Streets of Crocodiles and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass). Little of his art survived the war, but what remains reveals an intense inner world weaving childhood memories, magic, dreams and erotica with his Eastern European heritage and the culture of the time and place in which he lived.

A Bench

Schulz nurtured his extraordinary imagination in a swarm of identities and nationalities; a Jew who thought and wrote in Polish, was fluent in German, and immersed in Jewish culture, though unfamiliar with the Yiddish language. Yet there was nothing cosmopolitan about him; his genius fed in solitude on specific local and ethnic sources. His adult life was often perceived by outsiders as that of a hermit, uneventful and enclosed.

Bewitched City

Idolizers

In the years 1920-22, Bruno Schulz created a graphic series in the cliche-verre technique unknown at the time in Poland. He called it the X Book of Idolatry - “I am simply calling it The Book without any epithets or qualifications".

Undula Eternal Ideal

Shoe

The Book was dedicated in honour of his muse, Undula, a Woman unattainable to men and with whom contact could be established only through a look of surrender, often through the touching of a stocking or a foot. Here, Schulz's dramatic etchings reflect a number of his dominant themes and obsessions, namely dreamlike masochism, fetishism, and most importantly, Woman as an object of worship and adoration.

Beasts

Schulz was one of the few creative minds whose art and writing were of comparable genius. The dark eroticism of the drawings collected in The Book of Idolatry, both fantastic and terrifying in their mixing of pleasure, pain and death, are signs of a major lost talent.

The Eternal Tale

Since his death, a greater awareness and appreciation has developed of the sometimes disturbing, but always thought-provoking, work of Bruno Schulz, and a more thorough understanding of the life and world of this extraordinary artist.

Book of Idolatry II

Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser in the Venusberg, 1901

Long after Christianity has extirpated the Venus myth, it was preserved by the medieval German legend, Tannhäuser. He was a knight and poet who found Venusberg, a mountain with caverns containing the subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the Goddess.

After leaving Venusberg, Tannhäuser is filled with remorse, and travels to Rome to ask Pope Urban IV if he could be absolved of his sin. Urban replies that forgiveness is as impossible as it would be for his papal staff to blossom. Three days after Tannhäuser's departure, Urban's staff blooms with flowers; messengers are sent to retrieve the knight, but he has already returned to Venusberg to renew his worship of the Goddess, never to be seen again.

This depiction of Tannhäuser in adoration of the Venus is by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter and author, John Maler Collier (1850 - 1934).

Adoration & The Slave

It was at the Carlsberg Glypotech in Copenhagen a few years ago that I first came across the work of the Norwegian - Danish sculptor, Stephan Sinding (1846 - 1922).

In his early career, he was influenced by the new work of the French sculptors, Auguste Rodin and Paul Dubois. Sinding was at first met with a degree of scepticism from the Norwegian public, as his style was considered too modern.

His art, which was in general terms marked by realistic style and symbolism, was to achieve popular recognition in Copenhagen, where he found a sponsor with the Carlsberg brewery family and obtained Danish citizenship. He was to spend most of his adult life working in Rome, Copenhagen and, finally, Paris.

Here are two personal favourites of Sinding's sculptures.

Adoration, 1910

The Slave, 1913

Betty Boop

At a time when it was the norm for adults, rather than children, to watch cartoons in cinemas, the animated cartoon figure, Betty Boop, with her demure sex appeal, was hugely popular with film audiences.

In the 1932 cartoon, Boop-Oop-A-Doop, Betty plays the part of a Lion Tamer in between fighting off the advances of a lecherous ringmaster. In this memorable scene, as Betty brings a threesome of angry lions to heel, another one demonstrates that curtesy to a Lady is always the better option.

To view it, jump ahead to 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

Sensual Play

The Five Senses, 1879 ~ Hans Makart

This charming and beautiful panelled painting calls to mind the important role that the senses have in BDSM play. Having one of the senses – sight, touch, sound, smell, or taste – controlled, blocked, or removed altogether can create very powerful sensations, as well as having the effect of greatly heightening sensitivity to all the other senses.

Sight ~ prevented by the use of a blindfold adds to the level of anticipation, radically increases the sense of touch, and helps to deepen the bond of trust between the Dominatrix and Her submissive.

Touch ~ controlled by the Dominatrix carefully choosing what to apply to the submissive’s skin, be it massage oils, ice or hot wax, or perhaps the thrill of a metal spur.

Sound ~ cleverly manipulated to hear particular noises which may be arousing and exciting for the submissive, especially if other senses are being restricted. Personal favourites are the sound of heels on a wooden floor, or the swishing of a cane.

Smell ~ brings memories to the surface, so lighting a scented candle or wavering scented sensual oils under the submissive’s nose may elicit very powerful emotions and control his moods.

Taste ~ likewise psychologically associated with memory, while the play of slathering some scented or flavoured lubes onto the submissive makes for a very tasty bondage treat.

And, of course, as always - safe, sane and consensual.

Femme Surprise

On visiting an art gallery recently, I came across a painting by Niccolo d’Ardia Caracciolo (1941 - 1989), an Irish artist of Italian extraction, whose work I was not very familiar with. Later, on reading about his short life, I learned that he was a painter who developed a successful reputation for depicting classical landscapes and realist portraits based on traditional values.

One painting which was to prove a delightful surprise to me, and a notable departure from the mostly conventional themes that comprised his artistic output, is his Femme Fatale. This striking painting reveals, however, many features to be found in his other works, namely his feel for golden light, the use of dramatic perspective, and his refined skills in figure drawing.

Caracciolo was the artist primarily responsible for the recreation of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel for the film, The Agony and the Ecstasy. Sadly, he was to lose his life in a car accident near Siena in Italy at the age of 48.

Galatea Awakening

Pygmalion, 1926 ~ Franz Von Stuck

I have written here before of the aesthetic nature of submission in which a physical or pictorial representation of the beloved Mistress can be an ever-present fetish for the submissive. The Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea offers an interesting parallel in this respect.

Pygmalion was a talented Greek sculptor from Cyprus who, disappointed in his relationships with vanilla Women, created a Female statue out of ivory, which was a representation of his ideal of Divine Womanhood.

Pygmalion fell in love with his creation, as it was flawless and beautiful. The sculptor came to dressing the figure in fine clothing and adorning it with jewels. Although Pygmalion was happy with his statue, for him their relationship was – surprise, surprise - very one-sided, and he prayed that his statue would one day come alive.

When it came time for the annual festival of Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans), Pygmalion brought a gift to the altar. When he was alone, the shy man asked the Goddess of Love to be accepted by a Woman similar to his statue: he was too timid to ask for life for his statue. Aphrodite heard his plea and understood what he really desired. As he had been humble and had bestowed a gift in offering, She granted him his secret wish and breathed life into his creation.

When he returned to his studio, Pygmalion found that his ideal Woman had come to life. Her name was Galatea, and she was as perfect as he had hoped she would be. Galatea looked favourably upon Pygmalion, and soon they were married with the blessing of Aphrodite, and the couple lived a long and happy life. Galatea, who had first been a passive object of desire, is elevated to the status of Woman Incarnate, and is the dominant of the two characters by the end of the story.

The basic Pygmalion myth has been widely transmitted and re-presented in the arts through the centuries. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a musical play of the love story, while George Bernard Shaw’s popular and influential play Pygmalion details a man’s attempt to take an ordinary Woman and teach her how to blend into high society: other plays and films, such as My Fair Lady, Pretty Woman and Educating Rita, are based on the story.

To the contemporary submissive, as for the ancient Greeks, the message of the Pygmalion tale is clear: The Goddess rewards those who are humble, deferential and thankful.

Pygmalion

She turned and, smiling, bent towards the youth,

And blushed love's dawn upon him as he knelt.

He rose, sprang forward with a passionate cry,

And joyously outstretched his waiting arms;

And lo! the form he sculptured from the stone,

Instinct with life, and radiant with soul,

A breathing shape of beauty, soft and warm,

Of divine womanhood, all smiles and tears,

In love's sweet trance upon his bosom lay.

~ extract ~

Grace Greenwood

Sappho: Classical Muse

On first viewing the magnificent life size painting, Sappho (1877), in the Manchester Art Gallery, I was stopped in my tracks by its dark and brooding dominance. This masterpiece of Charles Auguste Mengin (1853 – 1933), a French painter of the Academic art movement, is an awesome depiction of the greatest poetess of the Classical Age.

Sappho (c. 630 B. C. - c. 570B.C.) was perhaps the first Female lyric poet, well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity. Her immense reputation endures through the surviving fragments of her poetic work. She was one of the first poets to write from the first person, describing her life experiences as they affected her personally, which was highly unusual among classical writers.

As the leader of a Feminine literary set in the Greek cultural centre of Lesbos, Sappho wrote her poetry in a sensual and melodic style to be performed with the accompaniment of a lyre. Her poems are predominantly songs of love, yearning and reflection, which were often dedicated to her Female pupils who were sent to her to be educated in poetry, fashion, and gallantry.

One of Sappho’s surviving fragments appeals to the spirit of every true Dominatrix.

Words

Although they are

only breath,

words which command

are immortal.

Sappho

Myth of the Sunflower

The favourite flower of my Mistress, Goddess Eva Luna, is the sunflower.

The mythological origin of the sunflower involves a beautiful nymph named Clytie who fell in love with Apollo, god of the sun. Apollo soon lost interest in Clytie, but to prove her devotion to him she sat upon a rock staring at Apollo’s golden chariot above and did not eat or drink for nine days. Eventually, the other gods felt compassion for Clytie and turned her into what would become the sunflower, so that she could always draw energy from and gaze up at her beloved.

Myths, such as this, were commonly depicted during the Victorian era. From an early age, the British Pre-Raphaelite painter, Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919), was determined to become an artist and succeeded in overcoming her parents’ objections to such a career. In her painting of the coolly sensual Clytie (ca. 1886), De Morgan shows the forsaken nymph amid sunflowers and about to morph into one herself—a portrait of tragic devotion, or perhaps even a cautionary tale.

The Lion Tamer

The Jealous Lioness by the German realist animal painter, Paul Meyerheim (1842 - 1915), is a painting which, on viewing, always impresses with its dramatic presence and strong imagery. In a picture of romantic rivalry, the caged and frustrated lioness lunges angrily at the beautiful Woman, who defiantly and safely stands caressing the male lion.

At an end-of-century time when western Women were denied access to education and legal rights, and experienced only limited personal freedoms, many artists and writers began to compare their social restriction to that of the caged animal. Issues concerning female inequality were also being reflected in art and literature by the figure of the Femme Fatale who was portrayed as a symbol of aggressive, yet mysterious, femininity; a Woman who could use her beauty and guile to achieve influence and power in a society that refused to recognise her intelligence and independence.

The contrast depicted in this memorable painting between the caged, snarling lioness and the beautiful, tantalising Woman perhaps reflects these wider struggles and conflicts of 19th century western Women.

My thanks to Mistress Eva Luna for the title of this post.

Secrets of the Femme Fatale

Twelve steps to becoming a Femme Fatale:

1. Speak in a seductive voice. Not creepy low, just attractive low. Practice some vocal exercises for a few weeks and it will become habit. Listen to Scarlett Johansson or Joan Crawford for an example of this kind of voice.

2. Wear dark, sexy, retro clothes. Not too gothic-looking, though. Think Eva Green, Angelina Jolie in the mid-90's. Subtle, well-cut clothing that draws attention to you, but in a tasteful way. Stick to colours like black, maroon, and emerald green. Look for silk cocktail dresses, dark-wash, high-waisted jeans, expensive-looking dramatic jewellery, and fishnet tights or better still, tights with a backseam and heels. A seductive fur is essential wardrobe.

3. Hang out in mysterious places. Nothing sketchy or scary. Just unusual. Remember that when in interesting places, one meets interesting people. Try out an obscure, artsy coffee shop, clandestine night club, or unique antique shop.

4. Be "one of the guys". This means holding your own with the guys in their poker/pool/video games and occasionally winning. You'll earn respect and allure as a result. But don't lose your feminine side trying to hang out with men.

5. Be mysterious. Don't let everybody know what you are feeling or what's going on. The very mystery proves to be the allure of the Femme Fatale.

6. Find something unique to your Femme Fatale and work it. Some unusual interest, skill, accessory: anything! Individuality contributes to that mystical allure.

7. Wear a signature scent. But not wimpy little fruit-foodie sprays - something oriental or woody. It will set you apart; every time somebody smells it, they will remember you and your aura. Better yet, go to the Body Shop and make your own blend. Sandlewood is a good start. Add something feminine, though, to balance it out. The last thing a Femme Fatale wants is to smell masculine.

8. Wear your hair in an extreme side part with Veronica Lake-esque waves. Wearing it in a dramatically short style is also a good choice. Stick to true, bold hair colours, like platinum blonde, dark brown, black, or auburn.

9. Wear pale foundation, 'cat's eye' eyeliner, and red or maroon lipstick. Smokey eyes are also very good. Avoid glitter and 'teenager' makeup at all costs.

10. Watch old movies. Mildred Pierce is a great starter. Also, watch old film noir movies from the 1940s. As far as music goes, Fiona Apple in the "Criminal" music video. Also Curve in "Chinese Burn". Let them inspire you. But don't let them take over--a Femme Fatale is individual.

11. Be smart and have good manners. Being well-educated is something that will set you apart from the flock. Being beautiful with brains adds sex appeal.

12. Have an air of charm about you. It's not enough to just be withdrawn, quiet and therefore "mysterious". Mysterious human beings are also very interesting. Carry yourself at all times with elegance and poise; and remember: every move you make from removing a glove to lighting a cigarette is capable of controlling men. Never concern yourself with the moral preoccupations of society: a Femme Fatale is amoral; like the cat.

As an incentive, here is Joan Crawford staring in one of the first Femme Fatale roles of film noir, Mildred Pierce.

Delilah Victorious

This energetic and expressive composition of the Samson and Delilah theme by the German Impressionist artist, Max Liebermann (1847 - 1935) – known as “the other Monet” – shows Samson slumped forward submissively with Delilah’s hand pressing downwards upon his head, while she triumphantly holds aloft his shorn locks, which she had cut off while he was asleep, towards the waiting Philistines in the wings.

With the source of his great strength presented as a trophy, Samson is an emasculated and subjugated figure. His tanned, muscular body is in stark contrast to Delilah’s bone, pale body, yet there is only one victor.

The Golden Fleece

The image of the powerful Femme Fatale makes a dramatic appearance in the painting, The Golden Fleece, by the English Classicist artist, Herbert James Draper (1864 - 1920).

The priestess, Medea, has used her powers to help the plundering Argonauts steal the Golden Fleece (from a magical golden ram) from her father, Aetes, King of Colchis. In love with the ship’s captain, Jason, she is depicted throwing her younger brother, Apsyrtis, into the sea to drown in the knowledge that her chasing father will have to slacken his pursuit, so as to bury his dead son. Medea stands as an image of determination. She stares back, at the impeding sails of her father's ship, giving little notice to Apsyrtis' pleas as he is sacrificed to the sea.

Draper's depiction of a ruthless Medea negates her earlier deeds in the quest for the Golden Fleece and literally highlights her fatalness. As seen in the painting, Medea stands up against the men and takes control of the situation. It is Medea's intelligence and knowledge of witchcraft that enables Jason to capture the Golden Fleece and her familial sacrifice that allows them to escape to safety.

Medea represents the power and destruction of the story, which characterize the Femme Fatale, yet she acts not for herself but for her love for Jason. She does not use seduction, like the sirens, to control and overcome men, but rather uses her intellect to help the man she loves.

Machismo & Masochism

The great American writer, Ernest Hemingway, almost single-handedly defined machismo for many of his countrymen of the twentieth century. However, modern literary critics have remarked on the presence of a masochistic sensibility, which exists alongside the cult of traditional masculinity, in the author’s writings.

Despite Hemingway's rugged and hyper-masculine image, a masochistic aesthetic informs the character portrayal of many of his male heroes, from Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises to David Bourne in The Garden of Eden. Their general physical and psychological submission to Women who alternately punish, humiliate, and nurture these suffering men is a feature of his writing. The devotion to these Women reveals a submissive and masochistic sexuality on the part of the author's male heroes.

Recent studies have focused on the complexity of Hemingway's female characters. The ideal Hemingway Woman, revealed as early in his literary output as The Sun Also Rises, demonstrates power and a will to dominate. Hemingway's work does not feature Female domination in the stereotypical sense of the Woman with the whip who so enthralled Leopold von Sacher-Masoch; despite the absence of the cruel Dominatrix figure, male submissive behaviour reveals itself more subtly, and at times more dramatically, in Hemingway’s writing than in the ritualized fantasies of Venus in Furs.

Hemmingway’s treatment of masochism in his writings is revealed in several recurring themes, including the negation of the phallus, suspense and the deferral of gratification, heterosexual sodomy, and the aesthetic of masochism.

The post-World War I era of Hemingway was to witness a general loss of masculine authority and potency in Western society. In this regard, the role of the phallus is notable for its absence in Hemingway's fiction. Jake Barnes, in The Sun Also Rises, is an emasculated figure, lacking a full complement of male genitalia. That an author so identified with traditional masculinity as Hemingway could render a character like Jake Barnes seems more remarkable today perhaps than when the novel first appeared. The dislimbed Jake is the most pronounced example of wounded masculinity and the negation of the phallus in Hemingway’s writings.

Waiting, suspense and the deferral of male sexual gratification characterize masochistic behaviour. Certainly, Jake Barnes suffers from this suspension of sexual satisfaction throughout The Sun Also Rises. In Across the River and Into the Trees, Colonel Cantwell willingly submits to Renata's commands and her entrapment of him in their encounter in the gondola. In this scene, she controls his sexual performance, telling him when to move and when to keep still. She directs his movements: "'Please don't move”, the girl said, “Then move a great amount". She goes on to experience three orgasms, while Cantwell has none. At one point in the encounter, Renata asks/orders him: "Let's do it again, please, now I am in the lee". The colonel places Renata's pleasure before his own and neither insists upon, nor is he offered, any corresponding sexual release, as he remains in a suspenseful anticipation that is gratification in itself. In Renata and the colonel, Hemingway created characters who embody several of the qualities of the Dominatrix and Her slave.

Heterosexual sodomy with the man in the passive role is a common feature of much contemporary erotic masochistic literature. In Hemingway's work, the male heroes seldom penetrate Women, but rather are sometimes penetrated themselves. Arguably, the most vivid description of penetration in Hemingway's work occurs in The Garden of Eden when Catherine Bourne sodomizes her husband. Catherine returns to the hotel one day and surprises her husband David with her haircut, "cropped as short as a boy's". Later, in bed together, David calls her "girl," but Catherine rejects this. "Don't call me girl" she orders him and then asks, "Will you change and be my girl and let me take you?" She continues: "I'm Peter. You're my wonderful Catherine....” Catherine's appropriation of the phallic name Peter gives some indication of what transpires here. Even the edited language of the posthumously published version of the book leaves only the instrument that Catherine uses to the imagination of the reader.

Commentators often remark on the aesthetic nature of masochism. A pictorial representation of the beloved Mistress can be a ubiquitous fetish for the masochist. In a passage in The Sun Also Rises, during the fiesta in Pamplona before the running of the bulls, Jake as narrator describes how the local Spaniards, joined by tourists, revel in the street: "Some dancers formed a circle around Brett (Ashley) and started to dance.... Brett herself wished to dance but they did not want her to. They wanted her as an image to dance around". The crowd transforms Brett into a virtual statue for the purpose of divine adornment. This theme is repeated on a cold morning in Venice in Across the River, when Colonel Cantwell asks Renata to pose: "Turn your hair sideways on top of this bridge and let it blow obliquely", and, as she assumes this position, the colonel simply admires her impervious, statue-like beauty. Both these scenes conjure up the image of Woman as sacred and immobile, a representation of a Goddess with the power to nurture or destroy.

In re-appraising Hemingway’s much-vaunted machismo, his not insignificant contribution to the tradition of literacy masochism is worthy of recognition.

Source: 'Hemingway's Masochism, Sodomy, and the Dominant Woman', Richard Fantina, 2006, The Hemingway Review.

The Cellist

The Cellist II ~ Mihai-Ovidiu Giagahnar

As a lover of classical music, I often find myself deeply emotionally affected when I see a Female cellist in command of her instrument.

A good friend, who is a psychotherapist, speculates my fascination is most likely attributed to my psycho-sexual make-up and, in particular, my submissive orientation. Alas, I couldn’t possibly say, but while he is still figuring that conundrum out, here is the legendary Jacqueline du Pré performing Saint-Saëns’ Allegro Appassionato.

Pornocrates

The Belgian Symbolist engraver and artist, Felicien Rops (1833 - 1898), delivered some of the most lovingly rendered, yet overtly sexual and uncomfortably misogynist artworks. A member of the Decadent movement, his view that Women were inherently satanic and a force for evil in the world is hardly an enlightened, or even a very sane, perspective; yet it resulted in a body of work that was sumptuously rich in metaphor.

Alongside the themes of death and sex, various types of dangerous Femme Fatales populate his art, appearing simultaneously as appealing and frightening. However scandalous his works were considered to be in his time, today we cannot close our eyes on the strong Catholic symbolism that was a provocative artistic statement of protest against his strict religious upbringing.

Pornocrates, 1896, graphically depicting a half nude demimonde beauty, eyes covered and holding a pig on the lead, with classical cherubs looking on, was probably Rops’s best known etching. The work evokes a dramatic configuration of the Dominant Female, blind trust, the captive male, and attendant love.

Waterhouse's Women

I was first drawn to the work of the Pre-Raphaelites by the English artist, John William Waterhouse (1849 -1917). who was also influenced by French Impressionism.

He painted Women predominantly as his main subjects - usually in a past mythological setting - as enchantresses, queens, sorceresses, mythical creatures, sources of danger, or femme fatales. Far from being passive objects, Waterhouse’s Women are portrayed as figures of action, possessed of their own ideas and feelings, and fully expressing them.

They have knowledge and power – the ability to both help and hinder men (who generally appear as secondary figures in the artist’s compositions). In taking important existential life decisions, the Women are presented to the viewer as being in charge of their own fate, and having dominion over the fate of others.

Cleopatra

The Magic Circle

The Siren

Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses

A Naiaid

The Charmer

Circe Invidiosa

Ophelia

Penelope and Her Suitors

The Lady of Shalott

The Consuming Kiss

Franz Stuck (1863 - 1928) was a German Symbolist and Art Nouveau painter, sculptor, engraver, as well as architect. Through his art, with its prominent representations of the Femme Fatale, Stuck examined the shadowy corners of human sexuality with a focus on mythology and religion, always concentrating on the power of the Female Form as a symbol of energy, birth, and danger.

The Kiss of the Sphinx (1895) is erotic and sensual in nature. In this highly charged painting, Stuck consummates, through the image of a passionate yet violent embrace, the relationship between his Femme Fatale and her quite willing male seeker and victim, using the myth of the Sphinx, specifically the ancient Greek version that devoured its victims.

The Kiss of the Sphinx literally threatens to consume the submissive male with its sexual tension.

Cruella De Vil

CSI's Lady Heather leading Grissom a merry dance to the tune, Cruella De Vil, performed by Dr John. Video by Sakeaoi.

Cruella De Vil

Thats it

Cruella De Vil

Thats it

Cruella De Vil

Cruella De Vil

If she doesn't scare you

No evil thing will

To see her is to

Take a sudden chill

Cruella, Cruella De Vil

The curl of her lips

The ice in her stare

All innocent children

Had better beware

She's like a spider waiting

For the kill

Look out for Cruella De Vil

At first you think

Cruella is the devil

But after time has worn

Away the shock

You come to realize

You've seen her kind of eyes

Watching you from underneath

A rock!

This vampire bat

This inhuman beast

She ought to be locked up

And never released

The world was such

A wholesome place until

Cruella, Cruella De Vil

Cruella De Vil

Thats it

Cruella De Vil

Thats it

Look out for Cruella De Vil



Venus Triumphant

The Triumph of the Marine Venus is by Sebastiano Ricci (1659 - 1734), an Italian rococo painter of the late Baroque school of Venice.

Born from the sea, the mythological Goddess Venus, a popular figure of Roman decorative art, sits upon a sea-shell throne pulled by two tritons and surrounded by her entourage. Perched above Venus, a Woman holds a string of pearls, a typical adornment of the Goddess, which fall through her hair and down along her shoulder. The tritons were a class of merman-like creatures who usually formed the escort of marine divinities.

The Goddess of love and beauty is enthroned triumphantly, entirely nude, at the center of the scene. The composition portrays in dramatic contrast the obvious nonchalance and pale slenderness of the dominant Venus with the virile power and toned muscular bodies of the subservient tritons.

A Story (of mine) 2

The First Encounter

Curtesy of Male Sumission Art

Even before Her shrill command to do so, the striking and imperious figure of The Mistress standing tall and erect had instinctively brought him to his knees in worship before Her. His eyes gazed forward to Her high-heeled black boots which tightly hugged Her slender legs up to Her thighs. Bearing a short-handled whip cord in Her right hand, The Lady was dressed in black cotton leggings, a wide black belt with a chrome buckle around Her midrib, and a black leather brassiere seductively revealing the magnificence of Her firm, snow white cleavage.

For his indiscretion of daring to glance up at Her face without permission, The Mistress had crashed in a hard hand slap full across his right face cheek, which heightened his senses in more ways than one, as it was soon to be followed by a second blow for the affront of becoming aroused in Her presence. Throughout this time, She repeatedly enforced Her message to him that, as Her newly-accepted slave, he was nothing more than a useless and worthless object in Her eyes. Then, telling him to stand up and turn around, She suddenly yanked his underpants down to his ankles, with the command to step out of them, and so was exposed naked before Her. Carefully scrutinising his form and figure while walking in a circle around him, She sternly warned him that any disobedience or wrongdoing would result in him being instantly banished from Her sight forever. In response, the abject slave earnestly promised Her his undying devotion and loyalty.

Then, instructing him to raise his arms from his sides, and to spread his legs apart, She produced a long, thin white rope, the sight of which stimulated his submissive curiosity. After confirming to Her that he had not been roped before, She proceeded to spend the next five minutes or so skilfully designing a matrix of intricate ties and binds criss-cross his upper torso and back, culminating in the rope being led beneath his undercarriage and upwards along his rectum, which he experienced as a slightly painful tightening that forcibly reminded him of his new-found lowly captive status.

After being ordered down to his knees again for another spell of boot-licking, The Mistress informed him that he was to be paid the very great honour of having a black metal collar placed around his neck to which She attached a white metal chain. Turning around with his back to him, The Lady next commanded him to follow Her on all fours, doggy-style, as She walked towards one of the bedroom doors. The act of being collared, leashed and led in such a humiliating manner had a profound, yet strangely calming, affect on the slave neophyte.

Casting his eyes upward, he noticed the two black iron restraints that were attached to the top of the bedroom door. Then, ordering him to his feet, The Lady had Her slave stand with his back to the door, as She proceeded to cup each of his wrists securely within the restraints. His crucified posture had reinforced upon him Her absolute physical control over him; then, with Her presentation of a black linen blindfold which She placed over his eyes, he felt himself submitting ever more deeply to Her dominant influence. Naked, bound, restrained and cast into the darkness, he instinctively let go of any pretence that he could in any way effect what was about to unfold for him at the hands of this mesmerising Passionatrix.

Playfully teasing with his chest nipples, She relayed to him how She had had a very trying and frustrating week because of the insistence of a thoughtless slave of Hers that a request of his be granted contrary to Her expressed wishes. She informed Her helpless captive that he was to be the recipient of the punishment that was due to Her errant slave, whom She had now discarded and refused to see again. As this new slave had been respectful in his approach to Mistress, was sensitive to Her requirements and needs, and had been patient and obedient, he was to be granted the place of Her former disgraced slave. On hearing these words, he was overcome by the mixed emotions of elation (at being elevated to Her slave stable) and resignation (that no matter how much he might please his Mistress in the future, She could for any reason, related to him or not, determine that he was to be cast out of Her presence).

Then, he felt the whip cord being lightly stroked across his chest area, only for the swishes to gradually increase with intensity, thus announcing the commencement of the punishment regime She had promised. He strove with whatever little courage he could muster not to cry out, lest he appear a weakling before Her, which by definition he now truly was. Suddenly, the punishment was transferred to his upper legs and calves; this time, a much sharper pain was being inflicted by, what he guessed, was The Lady’s stinging crop. Now he was unable to avoid crying out like a wounded animal pitifully seeking Her mercy. Still the strokes continued to descend on his lower torso without abating; he wondered how long more he could bear the pain without uttering the pre-agreed “orange” code word. Then, to his great relief, the beating suddenly ceased and The Mistress’ voice was close to his ear whispering Her sweet praises at how brave he had been in accepting the outpouring of Her week-long frustration. He felt the coolness of glass at his lips, as The Mistress kindly permitted him to drink.

However, just as he began to be lulled into a sense of security, The Lady pronounced that he was now to be punished to the rear. Deflated, he submitted to His Mistress loosening his restraints and having him face the door, while again tying his wrists high above his head. By inclination, he found himself assuming the position i.e. bending over, legs wide apart, while presenting his protruding bottom for punishment; Mistress expressed Her pleasure with this natural reflex of Her compliant slave. He next felt the palm of Her hand caress his right buttock before She released a series of spanks, slowly and methodically applied with force to each alternate cheek. Amidst the rhythmic pain of the spanking, the slave felt himself, paradoxically, to be increasingly safe in the hands of this powerful Virago who was, with clear intent and purpose, subjugating not only his body, but his mind and soul.

The spanking had stopped and he heard Her walk to a room where he imagined in the suspense of the silence which followed that She was selecting another exquisite implement of his punishment; perhaps this time, the cane, the Queen of Punishment, which he greatly feared, but secretly hoped that one day he could endure in ever increasing sets of six strokes as proof of his devotion and loyalty to The Mistress. Then, of a sudden, She was close up to him again; he could feel Her warm breath on his face, as She released him from his restraints. No more punishment, much to his relief; instead he felt a gentle stroking through the hairs of his legs, which had a remarkably massaging effect on him; the Mistress sensed his bewilderment in comprehending this hidden action when She informed him that he was in the process of being brushed!

Throughout this novel form of therapy, The Lady spoke in soft and reassuring tones to Her new slave. It was Her policy to choose very few slaves and those so privileged were looked after and trained by Her. She expected of Her slaves the attributes of loyalty, obedience and intelligence; in return, they could be assured of Her affection and care. Then, somewhat mysteriously, She began to speak in enigmatic terms of the most worthy of Her stable of slaves receiving “the special mark” of the Mistress, which was the ultimate gesture of the love of The Lady. He speculated aloud what this might mean; perhaps a “branded”, permanent expression of Her care? As he was only at the initiation to his training under The Mistress, this was not a matter for this moment, She had mocked him.

Suddenly, the light impinged on his awakening eyes, as She slowly removed his blindfold and led him by the hand to an adjoining room. Seating Herself on the bed, he was ordered to kneel before Her, once again, to kiss Her booted legs and feet in adoration. Then, She told him to lay his head on Her lap while, in a touching maternal gesture, She softly ran Her fingers through his hair; She reassured him that he had indeed greatly pleased The Lady by his demeanour and behaviour that afternoon, and in the preceding weeks.

She then instructed him to lie on his back on the bed following which she bound him with two distinctive blue-coloured restraints across his front; the first over his chest area (carefully adjusted to ease his breathing) and the second across his upper legs. Captive once again, the slave glanced sideways at his wonderful Mistress, as She provocatively donned her long leather gloves that reached high to Her upper arms. Moving to the end of the bed, She playfully touched his still partly erect member and tight plums with Her crop; he surmised to himself if She would commence CBT activity, but She declined, preferring instead to mount him with her bottom placed just above his face, while putting him under the strictest instruction not, under any circumstances, to come into proximity with Her body. The slave willingly succumbed to this wondrous vision of his Mistress; so near, yet so far.

Dismounting from the bed, The Mistress then came close to Her slave’s face. While his body was admittedly a wasting temple, She expressed Her admiration for his mind; he was to maintain a slave journal in honour of Her from this time forward; She, for Her part, would commit Herself to his further training and education as Her chosen lowly one; he would be forever loyal and obedient to Her in thought, word and deed. On hearing Her words, he embraced with all his heart the protection and security of Her pact with him. How blessed he felt at that moment to have encountered such a wonderful Mistress who had captured the very essence of his being - a submissive finding surrender to a Loving Female Authority.

Leaning ever closer over the face of Her beloved slave, She looked at him intensely for a sustained period with the bewitching power of Her hazel eyes. As a consequence, he found his own eyes locking into Hers, wholly unable to release himself from Her penetrating gaze; for, in truth, as it felt to him, She had used his eyes as a vehicle by which to sear his very soul. There and then, he felt completely taken over, possessed and owned in the ecstasy of that sacred moment.

Ordering him to close his eyes, She promised him, as a departing gift of Her love, “The Mark of The Mistress”; he awaited in feverish suspense for he knew not what. And then, suddenly, there it was: the moist touch of the Mistress’ lips upon his lips; encased in a long and tender embrace. Not the branded mark he imagined earlier, but an indelible one nonetheless, which would be etched into his memory for the rest of his slave existence in perpetual servitude to the most Divine Passionatrix in Mother Universe.

Sorrowful

Another piece of classical music that stirs my submissive spirit is the second movement of Symphony no. 3, Sorrowful Songs, by the contemporary Polish composer, Henryk Gorecki, who, sadly, passed over this month.

This slow and contemplative work is performed here in Auschwitz, when for the very first time since its liberation permission was granted for music to be played in a special memorial to mark the Holocaust. The theme of this deeply moving music is motherhood and the separation caused by war, and is based on a prayerful message by an 18 year old girl, Helena Wanda Blazusiakówna, found scrawled on a Gestapo prison cell in 1944.

The Lento e Largo is sung by the wonderful Armenian-Lebanese soprano, Isabel Bayrakdaraian.

Love and Pain

While The Scream is perhaps the most famous painting of Edvard Munch, the Norwegian father of Expressionism, it was the exhibit of another of his works in Berlin in 1902 that caused a sensation when it was first unveiled, touching as it did on turn-of-the-century fears about Women's liberation. Erroneously interpreted by an art critic as being vampiric in theme and content, the painting came to be called Vampire, much to the chagrin of the artist.

One of the most dramatic images in European art, Munch's painting depicts a man locked in a Woman's tortured embrace – her cascading molten-red hair running along his head and face. Some critics were outraged by what they termed as the perverse, almost sado-masochistic, depiction of passion. Munch had originally called his dark, brooding painting, Love and Pain, and it represents his ambition to communicate through art the complexity and intensity of human feelings.

For me, the Woman (Love?) bends over a clearly vulnerable and submissive man (pain?), letting her red hair bind him to her. Casting a single shadow against a stark background, the couple are locked together in freeze frame style in a symbiotic embrace, evoking both an emotional inter-dependence and love’s paradox as a source of tenderness and pain.

Despite the public outcry of the time, Munch always insisted that the painting was nothing more than "just a woman kissing a man on the neck". 

Perhaps what Love and Pain ultimately shows us is two people who are mutually dependent on one another, and it is up to the viewer to decide who needs who the most.

Love In Bondage

Sydney Harold Meteyard (1868-1947) was a British painter and stained glass artist who was a leading figure in the Birmingham Group. His painting, Hope Comforting Love In Bondage, has no historical precedent and is, presumably, the artist’s own invention.

It depicts the Greek god, Eros, whose primordial force of love, and his power to direct it into mortals, is held captive by his bonds. The goddess, Elpis, the Female personification of hope, attempts - seemingly in vain - to lift his drooping spirit.

THE CURSE OF LOVE

With heavy anguish, hopeless straining,

The bonds of love I would remove.

Oh, to be loosed from their enchaining!

Oh, freedom, only not to love!

Yet there is no freedom, unforgiven,

We live as slaves, by life consumed;

We perish, tortured, bound and driven,

Promised to death, and to love - doomed.

[Extract]

Dmitry Merezhkovsky

Veronica Lake, Femme Fatale

An icy blonde whose trademark hairstyle - a cascade of golden tresses that obscured one heavy-lidded eye - Veronica Lake (1922-73) was for a time one of the most popular and sought-after actresses in motion pictures. The American actress and pin-up model received critical acclaim, most notably for her Femme Fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s. As for her famous peek-a-boo bang hairstyle, Lake was to remark looking back on her career "I never did cheesecake; I just used my hair."

She starred in a handful of features that earned her legendary status, including the film noirs, "This Gun for Hire" (1942) and "The Blue Dahlia" (1946), as well as the smart comedies, "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) and "I Married a Witch" (1942). She also motivated a generation of Women to imitate her cool sexuality and chic style, at the same time, causing an equal number of men - particularly fighting WWII G.I.s - to fall for her. Her impact on society was such that during the war, she was forced by the government to temporarily change her trademark hairdo after Women in factories were becoming injured when their long locks were catching in assembly-line machinery.

The essence of hauteur, Lake developed a proven reputation as the perfect bitch (both on and off screen): a lithe, provocative figure, topped by luscious blonde hair partially revealing a lean face with slightly sunken cheeks, big cold eyes and the surprise of her husky, mature voice. She fully deserved her place in the pantheon of cinema Goddesses.

Sadly, her success did not last and she was to experience a rapid slide from fame to relative obscurity; she had a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism until she died of hepatitis. Nonetheless, decades after her death, Veronica Lake's particular smoky appeal lingered as one of Hollywood's most enduring and recognizable representations of the classy Femme Fatale.

Although her life and career has faded in the minds of modern audiences, her ethereal glamour stayed as iconic as ever. References to Lake's peek-a-boo bang style and ice queen demeanour were seen in everything from the neo-noir flick, "L.A. Confidential" to the animated Femme Fatale, Jessica Rabbit, who sports a scarlet version of Lake's peek-a-boo in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988).

Here is a wonderful video tribute to the mysterious and seductive Diva Lake created by redrosebutterfly13. The song is “Murder He Says” by Tori Amos.