Christa Giles

226
albeit, ˝de fautes surhumaines, de péchés que l’on voudrait
neufs.˝ 568 Huysmans appreciated Rops’ capacity to
˝spiritualize filth˝ 569 by means of the intellect. The scathing
and mocking satire in Rops’ prints implied disillusionment,
frustration, and yearning. For, ironically, Rops’ very mode
of presentation of such scenes suggested a frame of
reference which evoked a moral framework. Thus the
characters or subjects Rops depicts seek intensity or
extremes of emotion through the perversion of an ideal. It
was this intensity which, characteristically, Huysmans most
appreciated in Rops’ art. Wilde also sought this quality in
art and came to the conclusion that: ˝Not width but
intensity is the true aim of modern Art.˝ 570 Such intensity of
emotion directed toward a vision of purity, according to
Huysmans, died in the middle ages. So what remained was
only a vision of an excess of lewdness and impiety. 571
Huysmans repeatedly asserted the importance of
such intensity when united with great individuality. By
extension, because ˝the world hates Individualism˝ 572 the
artist of necessity pits himself against an ignorant public.
Huysmans, in his assessment of several landscape painters
in the Salon of 1880, goes so far as to identify lack of
individuality (translate, lack of talent–the two for
Huysmans were synonymous) with public favour.