Written and visual materials depict a risqué and exotic lifestyle at Scandal! Society, Culture, and Politics in Europe, 1889-1914, an exhibit of rare books, periodicals, photos and more.
The exhibit, open through May 30 in 104 Paterno Library, is meant to display cultural products, events and movements at the turn of the 20th century, according to a press release from Paterno Library.
"There is an emphasis on France, but it will not just be students of French who are interested," said Sandra Stelts, curator of rare books and manuscripts for Paterno Library. "There are items here for students interested in Jewish studies, integrative arts, books and book history, art history."
Much of the art from that time period reflects the café life and cabaret dancing found in Paris' famous Latin Quarter, Stelts added.
"It shows the naughty lives of avante-garde artists in the Latin Quarter with themes of petty coats and kicking feet," she said.
The exhibit also has a section devoted to the style of futurism, an art movement that embraced conflict, war and machines, Stelts said. This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the publication of F.T. Marinetti's "Futurist Manifesto," a copy of which is on display in the exhibit, she added.
As visitors move through the exhibit, the displays shift focus from the "scandalous" styles of society and art to the French political scandal known as the Dreyfus Affair, Stelts said.
The scandal, which involved the conviction and imprisonment of an innocent Jewish army officer on charges of treason, exposed the strong anti-Semitism in France during that period, she added.
"The Dreyfus Affair was a major political scandal that consumed France for over a decade," said Willa Silverman, professor of French and Jewish studies and guest co-curator for the exhibit.
Anti-Semitism was rampant in Western Europe at that time for numerous reasons, she said, and the exhibit examines this phenomenon.
Also on display is a rare original copy of the front-page article, written by Emile Zola, that exposed the Dreyfus Affair to the public.
Thanks to the 1881 "Law on the Freedom of the Press" in France, the press and French publishing had been definitively liberated for the first time in almost a century, Silverman said.
The exhibit also examines foreign culture in France at this period, Stelts said. The exhibit has photos of the Ballet Russes, which debuted in Paris in 1909 and was seen as exotic by French society, Stelts added.
There are also picture books and journals, such as Siegfried Bing's "Artistic Japan," featuring Japanese art.
"All of the items in the exhibition add to our knowledge of this period of history," Stelts said. "Seeing these actual artifacts of the 19th century really inspires surprise and awe."
