Georges de Feure

O. Uzanne, 'On the Drawings of M. Georges de Feure', in The Studio, no. 12, November 1987, p. 100;

H. Frantz, 'Georges de Feure', in Le Figaro Illustré, no. 119, February 1900, p. 44;

I. Millman, Georges De Feure, Maître du Symbolisme et de l’Art Nouveau, Courbevoie 1992, pp. 70-71.

Paris; Toulon; Pau, Le Symbolisme et la Femme, February-August 1986, no. 15;

Tokyo, Odakyu Grand Gallery and Osaka, Daimaru Museum, Umeda, Georges de Feure, July-September 1990, no.16;

Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, Georges de Feure, 1868-1943, November 1993-February 1994, no.23;

Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Musée départemental Maurice Denis and Gingins, Fondation Neumann, Georges de Feure. Du symbolisme à l’art nouveau (1890-1905), March–September 1995, no.22;

Takamatsu, Takamatsu City Museum; Tokyo, The Bunkamura Museum of Art; Himeji, Himeji City Museum, Symbolisme en Europe, November 1996-March 1997, no. 27.

During the 1890s, Georges de Feure spent time in Bruges to complete his illustrations for the Petites Nocturnes de Bruges by Georges Rodenbach, published in L'Image in May 1897, as well as to work on his lithographic album Bruges Mystique et Sensuelle, published by La Plume with a preface by Rodenbach. While the aim of these visits was primarily the completion of these works, he also began to take an interest in mythology.

Leda’s daughter is Helen, who will be the cause of the Trojan War. Jupiter, disguised as a swan, seduces Leda and their lovemaking leads to the birth of an egg containing her children. Rather than showing Leda and the swan, De Feure has chosen to portray the fruit of their relationship, without naming her. De Feure’s chosen title places the emphasis on her divine descent, recalled by the swan in the background. Additionally, the triangles adroitly inserted into the composition are reminders of the triangle formed by Helen, Menelaus, her husband and Paris, her lover. Helen’s raised eyes, as well as the way she holds her head, evoke the young woman’s incomprehension in relation to her origins and especially to the disastrous effect she has on men. Georges de Feure has here returned to one of his favourite themes, the femme fatale. In this case, she is passive, unknowingly responsible for the tragedy unfolding around her.

Like other compositions created during the same period, such as La Princesse Ylsdin, Princesse et Dragon, and Scène de Bruges la morte, De Feure developed a style that was more graphic than pictorial, in which the stylization of the motifs and composition give the overall appearance of an Art Nouveau decorative motif.