The catalog of the Felicien Rops exhibition is wrapped in the anonymous brown paper more often used to disguise pornography than art. The display itself, now at the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, would, if art galleries issued such things, come with a parental advisory label. With a preponderance of erotica, scenes of the Parisian demimonde -- and even a few engravings of "Satanic" rites -- this certainly isn't an exhibition to take the kids to.
It is, though, an excellent introduction to the work of Rops (1833-98), to his adventurous life and his scandalous, fin-de-siecle times. It also makes a strong case for renewing interest in this neglected Belgian artist, who was a master of many forms of graphic art including lithography, etching and aquatint, as well as drawing and painting.
In his lifetime, Rops was well-known. The poet Paul Verlaine repeatedly asked him to illustrate his verse, and Baudelaire was a personal friend. In 1865, Baudelaire wrote to the Impressionist Edouard Manet: "Rops is the one true artist -- what I and perhaps I alone mean by artist -- that I have found in Belgium."