Abstract
The subject of this study is a literary and historic analysis of graphic work of Belgian illustrator, graphic artist and painter Félicien Rops (1833-1898). I dedicated special attention to an analysis in the context of French literature during the fin de siècle period.
The scope of this study is to present a collection of literary short stories which inspired Rops''s graphic series Les Diaboliques. These works of art represent artistic reflexion of the asymmetric relation between man and woman.
In his graphic sheets, Rops presents woman as a cold and independent femme fatale who uses her appeal to seduce, weaken and supersede man''s dominance. At the same time, he pays attention to the ambiguous role woman presents in a man''s world.
That is why this study includes a cultural-historic interpretation of how woman''s status changed through time from an object of man''s imagination into an autonomous and independent being.