Sex, Art, and Salome: Historical Photographs of a Princess, Dancer, Stripper, and Feminist Inspiration

During the first three decades of the twentieth century, Salome rose from a minor biblical character to a cultural icon famous for a striptease known as the "Dance of the Seven Veils." With the help of author Oscar Wilde and opera composer Richard Strauss, the reimagined story of Salome managed to captivate a wide audience and empower women, both socially and sexually. This book presents over 130 historical photographs, the largest compilation of such images yet produced. Mata Hari, Ruth St. Denis, Anita Berber, Alla Nazimova, and Gloria Swanson are among those pictured. The pictures illustrate how performers across different art forms, including opera, theater, burlesque, modern dance, and early motion pictures, presented Salome as a sensual woman driven by lust and madness to destroy the man she loves.