Le Calendrier Magique

Lounging succubi! Unspeakable rites! Fiendish frogs! Few works capture the decadent imagination of fin-de-siècle Paris as vividly as the Calendrier Magique. Enter its indulgent splendour in this in-person talk.

Published in 1895 to mark the opening of Siegfried Bing's Maison de l'Art Nouveau, this strangely elongated codex emerged as a kind of esoteric book of hours, born at a moment when occult reverie and dark romanticism held the French capital in thrall.

Penned by the eccentric poet and folklorist Austin de Croze, and illustrated by Manuel Orazi – whose imagery also graced Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal and Wilde's Salomé – the Calendrier wove together risqué allegory, satanic chic and irresistible theatricality. Printed in just 777 copies, it survives as a delirious relic of Paris' occult underground, a bibliophile's fever dream.

This in-person talk will explore the cultural climate that allowed such a work to flourish: a city intoxicated with occult salons, satanic posturing and the whispered 'wizard wars' of the 1890s. Month by month, we will turn its diabolical pages, tracing how Orazi's illustrations crystallised a moment when fin-de-siècle aestheticism danced with occult play.

Recently reissued in a facsimile edition by Metastazis, with contextual notes by Laetitia Barbier, the Calendrier Magique invites us to rediscover a chapter of esoteric art history where decadence and darkness move hand in hand. Book now.

Copies of this rare and ravishing book will be available to purchase in the College shop.

Previous participants say:

"Exceeded my expectations."

"Outstanding programme and lecturer. Thank you!"

"Laetitia Barbier was a warm, knowledgeable and very fun tutor."

"Brilliant teacher and a very interesting content. I would love to study with Laetitia Barbier again."

"Five stars!"

"This was really great!"

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