“The mask of art is the means through which corruption is spread. The mask makes vice seem beautiful, turns squalor and nastiness into glamorous thrill, seduces the onlooker into the game – and leaves him or her with the corpse… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“Here, in Lorrain's poisoned little jewel of a tale (“The Man Who Made Wax Heads”) the consummate achievement of decadent art is caught in… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“In this image (watching sensual murder through a peephole) Lorrain embodies the criminal delight of decadent art. The watcher who records the crimes (both… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“Hidden away behind the closed doors of aristocratic and bourgeois privilege, concealed under those ultra-respectable masks of black frock coat and veil, the green… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“Art serves to confront that which is outside order, to give form to the obscene. In the process, it opens it to transformations that… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“Art makes murder into the supreme image of Beauty and in doing so sets free the vengeful God. (referring to Jean Lorrain's LE VICE… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“At issue for Peladan is the potency of the visual image: art's ability to construct images for viewing that can mobilize, concentrate and redirect… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“Everyone in a decadent society, Lorrain urges, is guilty. Everyone loves masking murder and everyone takes masochistic pleasure in the risk of discovery and… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
“The mask of art is the means through which corruption is spread. The mask makes vice seem beautiful, turns squalor and nastiness into glamorous… — Jennifer Birkett Copy Share Image
