Category Archives: Compulsions
The sun of God
The strange life of cocovore castaway August Engelhardt, his fictional avatars and his surprising relevance in the present day
The sun of God
The strange life of cocovore castaway August Engelhardt, his fictional avatars and his surprising relevance in the present day
Places: chez Pierre Molinier
The notorious erotomane shut-in’s Bordeaux lair
17-plus books for 2017
Dead poets, nude dancers, good bohemians, mystical Symbolists, jaded aristocrats, queer courtiers and blind men at play in a realm of dreams and voodoo
17-plus books for 2017
Dead poets, nude dancers, good bohemians, mystical Symbolists, jaded aristocrats, queer courtiers and blind men at play in a realm of dreams and voodoo
Doubles: Sybille Schmitz
The inspiration for Fassbinder’s masterpiece, Veronika Voss
Les Jambes de Saint-Pierre
Pierre Molinier: “Eros in androgyny, decadence and temptation”
Pearls: Natalie Clifford Barney
“For once you have committed yourself to a particular work, inspiration changes its form and becomes an obsession, like a love-affair…”
Pearls: Natalie Clifford Barney
“For once you have committed yourself to a particular work, inspiration changes its form and becomes an obsession, like a love-affair…”
The 12-step Sissi lifestyle plan
Looking out from official portraits with her radiant skin, torrents of chestnut hair and tiny waist, Her Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty seems to be saying “this doesn’t just happen, you know”. And it really, really didn’t: maintaining it all was a full time occupation.
The 12-step Sissi lifestyle plan
Looking out from official portraits with her radiant skin, torrents of chestnut hair and tiny waist, Her Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty seems to be saying “this doesn’t just happen, you know”. And it really, really didn’t: maintaining it all was a full time occupation.
A Percy Grainger glossary
If you know anything of Percy Grainger’s idiosyncrasies it is most likely his weakness for flagellation. However the more you read about him, the more you realise this was one of the least strange things about him.
A Percy Grainger glossary
If you know anything of Percy Grainger’s idiosyncrasies it is most likely his weakness for flagellation. However the more you read about him, the more you realise this was one of the least strange things about him.
Dress-down Friday: Raymond Roussel
In his costume as in his travels, Raymond Roussel was drawn to the exotic and the unknown, though for this son of privilege the life of a chambermaid was as exotic as anything he found in the South Seas.
Dress-down Friday: Raymond Roussel
In his costume as in his travels, Raymond Roussel was drawn to the exotic and the unknown, though for this son of privilege the life of a chambermaid was as exotic as anything he found in the South Seas.
Phantom of the empire
She haunted Europe’s pleasure spots in widow’s weeds, a gothic freak show of peek-a-boo solipsism, a fan shielding her from the gaze of the hated hoi polloi. If she was seen at all it was in silhouette, like Marlene Dietrich in Maximilian Schell’s documentary, and for the same reason – neither could bear to disturb the earlier image the public had of her.
Phantom of the empire
She haunted Europe’s pleasure spots in widow’s weeds, a gothic freak show of peek-a-boo solipsism, a fan shielding her from the gaze of the hated hoi polloi. If she was seen at all it was in silhouette, like Marlene Dietrich in Maximilian Schell’s documentary, and for the same reason – neither could bear to disturb the earlier image the public had of her.
Let them eat kuchen
So after I posted a couple of days ago about Ludwig II I remembered I had some photos kicking around somewhere of the palace Herrenchiemsee and its surrounds which I visited almost 10 years ago. Situated between Munich and Salzburg,
Let them eat kuchen
So after I posted a couple of days ago about Ludwig II I remembered I had some photos kicking around somewhere of the palace Herrenchiemsee and its surrounds which I visited almost 10 years ago. Situated between Munich and Salzburg,
Rex Luna
Both Ludwig and Sissi took the abstractions of Romanticism and not only made them reality but practised them at the level of an extreme sport. In so doing they inspired the Decadent writers who furthered the Romantics’ cult of self.
Rex Luna
Both Ludwig and Sissi took the abstractions of Romanticism and not only made them reality but practised them at the level of an extreme sport. In so doing they inspired the Decadent writers who furthered the Romantics’ cult of self.
The rhythm divine
Deren became fascinated by voodoo, which embodied multiple overlapping interests which she had already explored in film, including dance, ritual and altered states of consciousness. Choreographer Katherine Dunham described her as “possessed by rhythm”.
The rhythm divine
Deren became fascinated by voodoo, which embodied multiple overlapping interests which she had already explored in film, including dance, ritual and altered states of consciousness. Choreographer Katherine Dunham described her as “possessed by rhythm”.
The Shrine of Turin
Strange things happen in Turin. Giorgio de Chirico’s canvasses were haunted by the “nostalgia of the infinite” he sensed in the piazzas of this neo-classical northern Italian city; it’s also where Nietzsche went nuts and supposedly boasts the Gates of Hell among its landmarks.
The Shrine of Turin
Strange things happen in Turin. Giorgio de Chirico’s canvasses were haunted by the “nostalgia of the infinite” he sensed in the piazzas of this neo-classical northern Italian city; it’s also where Nietzsche went nuts and supposedly boasts the Gates of Hell among its landmarks.
Marquess Casati
This vision, dressed in something George Clinton might have rejected as being a little OTT, would be amazing enough if it had stepped out of a 1970s rock opera, or a disco fantasia about a mission to Mars manned exclusively by Village People.
Marquess Casati
This vision, dressed in something George Clinton might have rejected as being a little OTT, would be amazing enough if it had stepped out of a 1970s rock opera, or a disco fantasia about a mission to Mars manned exclusively by Village People.
Molinier Family Values
Here lies/Pierre MOLINIER/born on 13 April 1900 died around 1950/he was a man without morals/he was proud of it and gloried in it/No need to pray for him
Molinier Family Values
Here lies/Pierre MOLINIER/born on 13 April 1900 died around 1950/he was a man without morals/he was proud of it and gloried in it/No need to pray for him
Snowman
Bentley was obsessed with the natural phenomenon of snow and in 1885 he became a pioneer of snowflake photography (admittedly, it never became a particularly crowded field).
Snowman
Bentley was obsessed with the natural phenomenon of snow and in 1885 he became a pioneer of snowflake photography (admittedly, it never became a particularly crowded field).
Slave to love
In 1837 Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau visited a slave market in Cairo, there catching sight of a near-naked Abyssinian girl of no more than 13 called Mahbuba, “beloved”. He promptly purchased her.
Slave to love
In 1837 Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau visited a slave market in Cairo, there catching sight of a near-naked Abyssinian girl of no more than 13 called Mahbuba, “beloved”. He promptly purchased her.
Prophet of pain
Where Sade was a transgressor, Sacher-Masoch was a reformer; he was radicalised by the progressive movement of his time and saw a chance for social improvement.
Prophet of pain
Where Sade was a transgressor, Sacher-Masoch was a reformer; he was radicalised by the progressive movement of his time and saw a chance for social improvement.
Strange Flowers 