Femme Fatale: View – Power – Gender

John William Waterhouse, Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, 1891, Gallery Oldham, Oldham.

The femme fatale is a myth, a projection, a construction. She stands for a firmly encoded female stereotype: the sensual, erotic and desirable woman, whose supposedly demonic nature is revealed in the fact that she casts a spell over men to such an extent that they fall for her – often with a fatal outcome. FEMME FATALE. View – Power – Gender not only explores the artistic manifestations of the subject from the early 19th century to the present, but also wants to explore the myth of the femme fatale critically to illuminate its genesis and historical transformation.

The 'classic' image of the femme fatale is fed primarily from biblical and mythological female figures such as Judith, Salome, Medusa or the sirens, who were widely portrayed as fateful women in art and literature between 1860 and 1920. The demonization of female sexuality accompanying these narratives is formative for the femme fatale figure. Around 1900, the femme fatale image was often projected onto real people, often actors, dancers or artists such as Sarah Bernhardt, Alma Mahler or Anita Berber. What is striking is the simultaneity of important achievements in women's emancipation and the increased occurrence of this male-dominated image of women. As a counter-image, the aspects offemme fatale figure playfully, the New Woman , which emerged in the 1920s, is also important for the exhibition . A decisive break was set in the 1960s by feminist artists* who deconstructed the myth surrounding the femme fatale – and with it the corresponding perspectives and pictorial traditions. Current artistic positions, in turn, negotiate traces and adaptations of the image or establish explicit counter-narratives - often with reference to the #MeToo movement, questions of gender identities, female physicality and sexuality as well as in confrontation with the male gaze .