ABSTRACT
The overlap of the feminine with the aristocracy as a class, and the substitution of the feminine for the King, is evidence of the highly political nature of the projection of feminine energies. The Goncourts explicitly viewed their curvaceous objects as an antidote to the aesthetic horrors of modern capitalist society. Although there was probably some truth to this diagnosis, none of it explains why the antidote these men craved was avowedly feminine. The sense of a restless struggle for liberty is vital to this feminine energy the sense of breaking free that Wlfflin noted. Tracing of the feminine curve was not just decorative, but suggested a new organization of space that is not organized in terms of surface/depth. The word salon becomes capitalized as it moves from a purely spatial configuration into an institution: a meeting place where the cultural, intellectual, and political elite could meet and engage in conversation.
