Dangerous Liaisons

Masterpieces of Provocative Art

Dangerous Liaisons

Masterpieces of Provocative Art

“Dangerous Liaisons”

KNIGHTED BY VOGUE

Oil portrait of the artist Georges Barbier wearing a dark suit, painted by Clémentine-Hélène Dufau.

Flamboyant, innovative and strikingly elegant, George Barbier (1882-1932) was one of the most important French illustrators of the 20th century.

He was the leader of a group of artists so fashionably dressed, they were nicknamed 'Knights of the Bracelet’ by none other than Vogue. His refined illustrations provided the visuals not only for chic Parisian magazines, but also works of literature by Decadents such as Charles Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier or Paul Verlaine.

DANGEROUS LIAISONS

From 1929, Barbier illustrated a scandalous book that, at this point, was already one and a half centuries old: Les Liaisons dangereuses, a novel in letters by Choderlos de Laclos.

It follows the former lovers Madame de Merteuil and Valmont, whose games of seduction entangle and corrupt those around them. In one such scheme, Merteuil plots revenge on a former lover by having his fiancée, Cécile de Volanges, seduced before marriage.

Barbier’s elegant illustrations merge the style of the 1920s with the highly sensuous yet scheming and cruel world of the novel’s Rococo setting. It was published after his death, in 1934.

Rococo-revival illustration by George Barbier for 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses', featuring an elegant 18th-century couple sitting on a grassy knoll next to a Cupid statue.

NO TABOO

Detail of a George Barbier illustration for Dangerous Liaisons showing a stylized brown spotted cat crouching playfully with a colorful striped ball on a blue patterned rug.

A cat toying with a ball mirrors the cunning nature of Madame de Merteuil, who toys with Cécile.

George Barbier illustration for Dangerous Liaisons depicting an intimate embrace between two women, featuring 18th-century styling, a towering powdered wig with a large blue bow, and partially draped clothing.

Cécile’s exposed breast mirrors the 1780s illustration, when cleavages were sometimes so low as to show a woman’s nipples – in Barbier’s version, it becomes an intimate, erotic element.

George Barbier illustration detail for Dangerous Liaisons focusing on a woman's elegantly posed legs wearing white stockings and blue ribbons, emerging from ruffled skirts onto a blue patterned rug.

Rouged knees – a peculiar trend of the 1920s, when women’s skirts first rose above their knees – give a contemporary edge to the artwork.

A cat toying with a ball mirrors the cunning nature of Madame de Merteuil, who toys with Cécile.

Cécile’s exposed breast mirrors the 1780s illustration, when cleavages were sometimes so low as to show a woman’s nipples – in Barbier’s version, it becomes an intimate, erotic element.

Rouged knees – a peculiar trend of the 1920s, when women’s skirts first rose above their knees – give a contemporary edge to the artwork.

ARTISTIC LICENCE

George Barbier illustration for Dangerous Liaisons showing two women in 18th-century attire sharing an intimate moment on a sofa, with a playing cat at their feet.

In this illustration, we glimpse an intimate scene.

The cunning Madame de Merteuil, in her quest to corrupt the young and innocent Cécile, appears to instruct her in the art of seduction. However, this scene does not occur in the novel. So why did Barbier depict it this way?

INNOCENT OR EROTIC?

When the novel first appeared in 1782, it was illustrated by Romain Girard.

One of the illustrations shows Cécile in her bedchamber, with exposed breasts, standing close to Madame de Merteuil to seek counsel. At this time, nipples were not as taboo as they became by the 1920s or are today; cleavages were so low that fashionable dresses sometimes exposed women’s nipples. Yet Barbier, who viewed this scene in the 1920s, may have re-interpreted it as an erotic element.

18th-century color engraving by Nicolas Lavreince showing the seated Marquise de Merteuil advising a partially undressed Cécile Volanges.

A QUEER GAZE

Illustration by George Barbier from 'The Songs of Bilitis' (1922) showing two nude women reclining together on a patterned floor with a golden background and two small deer

When Barbier re-interpreted the original illustration, his gaze was also informed by his queer contemporaries.

While not much is known about his personal life, he was active in Paris’s booming queer subculture during the 1920s. At the time, lesbian culture was vibrant in Montmartre’s artistic bars. In many of his artworks, Barbier thus depicts erotic and romantic moments between women — some of the few artworks in art history to intentionally showcase lesbian love and passion.

Barbier was one of those who defined the visual language of Art Deco and worked with major designers such as Erté and Lanvin. He reimagined Les Liaisons through the sensibilities of interwar Paris.