Aesthetics of the Closet: Material Culture, Queer Affectivity, and Robert de Montesquiou’s Art of Collecting

Abstract

A series of photographs in the archives of the French writer, aesthete, and aristocrat Robert de Montesquiou (1855–1921) provides evidence of a form of queer collecting in fin-de-siècle Paris. Analysis of the images, all interior views of Montesquiou’s private residence, reveals a sensual relationship with Oriental objects that is distinct from the evocations of such relationships in the novels of Marcel Proust and Joris-Karl Huysmans. Employing queer theories of “affect,” this article examines an aesthetic of the closet that arises from the ambiguity conferred on cherished objects by their owner’s fantasized perceptions. The photographic reconstitution of Montesquiou’s intimate settings reveals tastes linked to japonisme—an aesthetic interpreted at the time as feminine and as a sign of concealed homosexuality. The art object can thus be seen as an affective bridge that allowed the count to exercise his eccentric taste in public and pursue his hidden loves in private.