Moved by love : inspired artists and deviant women in eighteenth-century France / Mary Sheriff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sheriff, Mary D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Heloise, 1101-1164.

Heloise.

Arts, French--18th century--Themes, motives.

Arts, French.

Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)--History--18th century.

Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Pygmalion (Greek mythology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 303 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In eighteenth-century France, the ability to lose oneself in a character or scene marked both great artists and ideal spectators. Yet it was thought this same passionate enthusiasm, if taken to unreasonable extremes, could also lead to sexual deviance, mental illness-even death. Women and artists were seen as especially susceptible to these negative consequences of creative enthusiasm, and women artists, doubly so. Mary D. Sheriff uses these very different visions of enthusiasm to explore the complex interrelationships among creativity, sexuality, the body and the mind in eighteenth-century France. Drawing on evidence from the visual arts, literature, philosophy, and medicine, she portrays the deviance ascribed to both inspired men and women. But while various mythologies worked to normalize deviance in male artists, women had no justification for their deviance. For instance, the mythical sculptor Pygmalion was cured of an abnormal love for his statue through the making of art. He became a model for creative artists, living happily with his statue come to life. No happy endings, though, were imagined for such inspired women writers as Sappho and Heloise, who burned with erotomania their art could not quench. Even so, Sheriff demonstrates, the perceived connections among sexuality, creativity, and disease also opened artistic opportunities for creative women took full advantage of them. Brilliantly reassessing the links between sexuality and creativity, artistic genius and madness, passion and reason, Moved by Love will profoundly reshape our view of eighteenth- century French culture.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Enthusiasm: Reason's Masterpiece

Chapter 2. The Artist and theWoman

Chapter 3. Deviant Spectators: Ignorant Girls andWomen Who Know Too Much

Chapter 4. Pygmalion's Enthusiasm and the Fires of Nymphomania, or The Psychology of Art and Desire

Chapter 5. The Model Pygmalion and the Artist Galatea

Chapter 6. Inspired by Heloise

Conclusion: Closing the Circle, Opening the End

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-295) and index.

Description based upon print version of record.

ISBN:

9786612537745

9781282537743

1282537741

9780226752846

0226752844

OCLC:

593240125