Gendered Antisemitism: The Jewess in the Graphic works of Raphaël Viau

• In Event: Reading Different Genres for Gender

Abstract

The lecture examins the graphic work of Raphaël Viau (1862-1922), and especially his cover and poster designs for the books LES FEMMES D'ISRAEL (1898) and CES BONS JUIFS!(1898). Viau was intimately linked to virulent Antisemite Édouard Drumont, and his illustrations, created during the increasingly racist antisemitic discourse surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, played a central role in shaping the modern antisemitic iconography of the Jewish woman. First, I will show how these works undermined the prevalent literary and artistic conventions which associated the Jewess with sensuality and beauty: the pious BELL JUIVE and the seductive FEMME FATALE. I will also show Viau’s sources of inspiration. Second, I will highlight the unique nature of his antisemitic images, which created a "hybrid” female Jew, who was both irresistible and repulsive. This study offers a re-evaluation of Ann Pelligrini’s assertion that in antisemitic discourse “all Jews are womanly, but no women are Jews,” as Viau’s caricatured figure is clearly both a woman and a Jew. It also demonstrates that the Jewess, as a Jew and a woman, served as a particular outlet for antisemitic prejudice, thereby an important dimension to the study antisemitism and anti-feminism as parallel ideologies.

Author

• Neta Peretz