Erotica in Art

 

" In art, immorality cannot exist.
Art is always sacred"

                                                     August Rodin

 

Franz von Bayros
 

Marquis Franz von Bayros was born in Zagreb in 1866, as the son of a Spanish nobleman. He became an artist, standing out amongst his contemporaries for his enticing and delicate graphic style. He drew a series of erotic drawings, depicting worldly beauties in compromising positions. One of his erotic portfolios, 'Erzahlungen vom Toilettentisch' ('Tales from the Dressing Table'), caused a courtcase and made Von Bayros famous. In 1911, the Munich police persecuted him because of his illustrations and forced him into exile from Germany. He drew about 2000 illustrations in all his life, for books such as Dante's 'Divina Commedia' and those by Hans Bartsch. His legacy is a wonderful collection of lovely, decadent erotic but elegant masterpieces, with a love for every smallest beautiful detail, rarely found elsewhere. Franz von Bayros died in Vienna on 3 April 1924.
Franz von Bayros kept the candle burning for the Decadents more than a quarter of a century after the death of Aubrey Beardsley in 1898. His art is an unmistakable cocktail of rococo daintiness, Beardsley-esque technique and witty, decadent eroticism. He was obliged to move from one European capital to another as each outrageous new work was banned by the authorities