The book Kiss of the Beast: From Paris Salon to King Kong explores images of gorillas, wild beasts and monsters in art, film, science, literature and popular culture from the late nineteenth century to today. It examines humanity’s highly charged relationship with primates and draws connections between debates about evolution, race, aesthetics and sex — from satirical cartoons of gorillas in Punch! to HR Hopps's famous World War One recruiting poster Destroy this mad brute: enlist, which shows Kaiser Wilhelm as a large ape.

Many incarnations of the ‘beauty and the beast’ tale in art and film unfold in Kiss of the Beast — from French artist Emmanuel Frémiet’s sculptures of a gorilla carrying off a woman of 1859 and 1887, to the classic 1933 image of Fay Wray in the grip of King Kong. Early short films and animations; groundbreaking documentaries; iconic ‘monster’ movies from 1930s to 1950s Hollywood; and some of the many versions of the Kong story from America, Japan and Hong Kong are also featured.

Kiss of the Beast is richly illustrated with film stills from many famous big ape and monster movies — including King Kong, Frankenstein and Creature from the Black Lagoon — as well as posters, sculptures, paintings, prints and rare books.

The book is published in conjunction with ‘Kiss of the Beast’, an integrated exhibition and film program presented by the Australian Cinémathèque, Queensland Art Gallery.

128 pages with over 100 illustrationsISBN 1876 509 08 2

Take a look inside Kiss of the Beast.

To purchase Kiss of the Beast, visit the Gallery Store.