Erotic photography

Last updated

Erotic photography is a style of art photography of an erotic, sexually suggestive or sexually provocative nature.

Contents

Erotic photography is often distinguished from nude photography, which contains nude subjects not necessarily in an erotic situation, and pornographic photography, which is of a sexually explicit nature. Pornographic photography is generally defined as "obscene" and lacking in artistic/aesthetic value. However, the line between art and pornography has been both socially and legally debated, [1] and many photographers have created work that intentionally ignores these distinctions.

Erotic photographs are normally intended for commercial use, including mass-produced items such as decorative calendars, pinups and for men's magazines, such as Penthouse and Playboy , but many art photographers have also dabbled in explicit or erotic imagery. [2] Additionally, sometimes erotic photographs are intended to be seen only by a subject's partner.

The subjects of erotic photographs include professional models, celebrities and amateurs. Well-known entertainers do not generally pose nude for photographs. The first entertainer to pose nude for photographs was the stage actress Adah Isaacs Menken (1835–1868). [3] However, a number of well-known film stars have posed as pin-up models and been promoted in photography and other media as sex symbols. The majority of erotic photographs are of female subjects, but erotic images of men are also published.

Beginnings

Before 1839, depictions of nudity and erotica generally consisted of paintings, drawings and engravings. In that year, Louis Daguerre presented the first practical process of photography to the French Academy of Sciences. [4] Unlike earlier photograph methods, his daguerreotypes had stunning quality and did not fade with time. Artists adopted the new technology as a new way to depict the nude form, which in practice was the feminine form. In so doing, at least initially, they tried to follow the styles and traditions of the art form. Traditionally, in France, an académie was a nude study done by a painter to master the female (or male) form. Each had to be registered with the French government and approved or they could not be sold. Soon, nude photographs were being registered as académie and marketed as aids to painters. However, the realism of a photograph as opposed to the idealism of a painting made many of these intrinsically erotic. [5]

In Nude Photography, 1840–1920, Peter Marshall notes: "In the prevailing moral climate at the time of the invention of photography, the only officially sanctioned photography of the body was for the production of artist's studies. Many of the surviving examples of daguerreotypes are clearly not in this genre but have a sensuality that clearly implies they were designed as erotic or pornographic images". [6]

The daguerreotypes were not without drawbacks, however. The main difficulty was that they could only be reproduced by photographing the original picture since each image was an original and the all-metal process does not use negatives. In addition, the earliest daguerreotypes had exposure times ranging from three to fifteen minutes, making them somewhat impractical for portraiture. Unlike earlier drawings, action could not be shown. The poses that the models struck had to be held very still for a long time. Another limitation was the monochrome image that the technology could produce. Because of this, the standard pornographic image shifted from one of two or more people engaged in sex acts to a solitary woman exposing her genitals. The cost of the process also limited the spread of the technology. Since one picture could cost a week's salary, the audience for nudes mostly consisted of artists and the upper echelon of society. [7]

Stereoscopy was invented in 1838 and became extremely popular for daguerreotypes, [8] [9] including the erotic images. This technology produced a type of three dimensional view that suited erotic images quite well. Although thousands of erotic daguerreotypes were created, only around 800 are known to survive; however, their uniqueness and expense meant that they were once the toys of rich men. Due to their rarity, the works can sell for more than £GB 10,000. [5]

The calotype process

In 1841, William Fox Talbot patented the calotype process, the first negative-positive process, making possible multiple copies. [10] This invention permitted an almost limitless number of prints to be produced from a glass negative. The technology also reduced the exposure time and made possible a true mass market for low cost commercial photography. The technology was immediately employed to reproduce nude portraits, classified by the standards of the time as pornographic. Paris soon became the centre of this trade. In 1848 only thirteen photography studios existed in Paris; by 1860, there were over 400. Most of them made income from the sale of illicit nude images to the masses who could now afford it. The pictures were also sold near train stations, by traveling salesmen and women in the streets who hid them under their dresses. They were often produced in sets (of four, eight or twelve), and exported internationally, mainly to England and the United States. Both the models and the photographers were commonly from the working class, and the artistic model excuse was increasingly hard to use. By 1855, no more photographic nudes were being registered as académie, and the business had gone underground to escape prosecution. [5]

The Victorian tradition

Eadweard Muybridge: Woman walking with fishing pole (detail) Female nude motion study by Eadweard Muybridge.jpg
Eadweard Muybridge: Woman walking with fishing pole (detail)

The Victorian pornographic tradition in Britain had three main elements: French photographs, erotic prints (sold in shops in Holywell Street, a long vanished London thoroughfare, swept away by the Aldwych), and printed literature. The ability to reproduce photographs in bulk assisted the rise of a new business individual, the porn dealer. Many of these dealers used the postal system to distribute erotic photography, sending the photographic cards to subscribers in plain wrappings. Victorian pornography had several defining characteristics. It reflected a very mechanistic view of the human anatomy and its functions. Science, the new obsession, was invoked to ostensibly study the nude human body. Consequently, the sexuality of the subject is often depersonalised, and is without any passion or tenderness. At this time, it also became popular to depict nude photographs of women of exotic ethnicities, under the umbrella of science.

Studies of this type can be found in the work of Eadweard Muybridge. Although he photographed both men and women, the women were often given props like market baskets and fishing poles, making the images of women thinly disguised erotica. [5]

Parallel to the British printing history, photographers and printers in France frequently turned to the medium of postcards, producing great numbers of them. Such cards came to be known in the US as "French postcards". [11]

French influence

The initial appearance of picture postcards (and the enthusiasm with which the new medium was embraced) raised some legal issues that can be seen as precursors to later controversies over the Internet. Picture postcards allowed and encouraged many individuals to send images across national borders, and the legal availability of a postcard image in one country did not guarantee that the card would be considered "proper" in the destination country, or in the intermediate countries that the card would have to pass through. Some countries refused to handle postcards containing sexual references (such as of seaside scenes) or images of full or partial nudity (including images of classical statuary or paintings). Many French postcards featured naked women in erotic poses. These were described as postcards but whose primary purpose was not for sending by post because they would have been banned from delivery. Street dealers, tobacco shops, and a variety of other vendors bought the photographs for resale to tourists. The sale of erotica was banned, and many of these postcards were sold "under the counter".

Instead, nude and erotic photographs were marketed in a monthly magazine called La Beauté that was ostensibly targeted for artists looking for poses. Each issue contained 75 nude images which could be ordered by mail, in the form of postcards, hand-tinted or sepia toned.

Early 20th century

The early 1900s saw several important improvements in camera design, including the 1913 invention of the 35 mm or "candid" camera by Oskar Barnack of the Ernst Leitz company. The Ur-Leica was a compact camera based on the idea of reducing the format of negatives and enlarging them later, after they had been exposed. This small, portable device made nude photography in secluded parks and other semi-public places easier, and represented a great advance for amateur erotica. Artists were enamored with their new ability to take impromptu photos without carrying around a clunky apparatus.

Early 20th century artist E. J. Bellocq, who made his best known images with the older style glass plate negatives, is best remembered for his down-to-earth pictures of prostitutes in domestic settings in the Storyville red light district of New Orleans. In contrast to the usual pictures of women awkwardly posed amid drapery, veils, flowers, fruit, classical columns and oriental braziers, Bellocq's sitters appear relaxed and comfortable. David Steinberg speculates that the prostitutes may have felt at ease with Bellocq because he was "so much of a fellow outcast."

Other photographers of nude women of this period include Alexandre-Jacques Chantron, Jean Agélou [14] and Alfred Cheney Johnston. Chantron was already an established painter before experimenting with photography, [15] while Agélou and Johnston made their career in photography.

Julian Mandel (possibly a pseudonym) became known in the 1920s and 1930s for his exceptional photographs of the female form. Participating in the German "new age outdoor movement", Mandel took numerous pictures in natural settings, publishing them through the Paris-based studios of Alfred Noyer and P-C Paris, [16] Les Studios and the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft. The models often are found in highly arranged classical poses, photographed both in-studio and outdoors. The images are composed artfully, with exquisite tones and soft use of lighting—showing a particular texture created by light rather than shadow. [17]

Another noteworthy photographer of the first two decades of the 20th century was the naturist photographer Arundel Holmes Nicholls (1923–2008). [18] His work, featured in the archives of the Kinsey Institute, is artistically composed, often giving an iridescent glow to his figures. [17] Following in Mandel's footsteps, Nicholls favored outdoor shots.

Many photographs from this era were intentionally damaged. Bellocq, for instance, frequently scratched out the faces of his sitters to obscure their identities. Some of his other sitters were photographed wearing masks. Peter Marshall writes, "Even in the relatively bohemian atmosphere of Carmel, California in the 1920s and '30s, Edward Weston had to photograph many of his models without showing their faces, and some 75 years on, many communities are less open about such things than Carmel was then." [19]

In France, the tolerance of nude photography in the early 20th century coincided with the popularity of stereo photography. Stereo photography experienced a revival with the introduction of the compact and affordable Vérascope stereo camera by Jules Richard in 1893. Viewing erotic stereoscopic images through a stereoscope provided an intimate viewing experience.

Jules Richard published more than 7,000 glass stereoviews in the 45 mm × 107 mm (1.8 in × 4.2 in) format, shot in a classic Atrium. [20] Jean Agélou published more than 40 series of paper card stereoviews. During a single posing session with a model, he used a stereo camera for the stereoviews and a normal camera for the French postcards. [21]

Later 20th century

Nude photographers of the mid-20th century include Walter Bird, John Everard, Horace Roye, Harrison Marks and Zoltán Glass. Roye's photograph Tomorrow's Crucifixion, depicting a model wearing a gas mask while on a crucifix caused much controversy when published in the English Press in 1938. The image is now considered one of the major pre-war photographs of the 20th century.

Playboy and Penthouse

Playboy magazine, founded in 1953, achieved great popularity and soon established the market for men's and lifestyle magazines. Erotic photography soon became closely associated with it and gained increasing public attention.

Founded in 1965, Penthouse magazine went a step further than Playboy and was the first to clearly display genitals, initially covered with pubic hair. The models looked usually directly into the camera, as if they would enter into relationship with the mostly male viewers.

Cleo and male nude

In the 1970s, in the mood of feminism, gender equality and light humour, magazines such as Cleo included male nude centrefolds.

Unlike the traditional erotic photographs, which use any attractive female subjects, the male nude photographs are usually of celebrities.

Internet

The spread of the Internet in the 1990s and increasing social liberalization brought a renewed upsurge of erotic photography. There are a variety of print and online publications, which now compete against the major magazines (Playboy, Penthouse) and cater for the diverse tastes. [22] There are a large number of online erotic photography sites, some of which describe themselves or are so described by others as pornography.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotica</span> Category of sexually stimulating media

Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right. Erotica also exists in a number of subgenres including gay, lesbian, women's, bondage, monster and tentacle erotica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Softcore pornography</span> Erotic still photography or film that is less sexually explicit than hardcore pornography

Softcore pornography or softcore porn is commercial still photography, film, or art that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic and intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of visual sexual penetration. It typically contains nude or semi-nude actors involved in love scenes and is intended to be sexually arousing and aesthetically beautiful. The distinction between softcore pornography and erotic photography or art, such as Vargas girl pin-ups, is largely a matter of debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bunny Yeager</span> American photographer and pin-up model

Linnea Eleanor "Bunny" Yeager was an American photographer and pin-up model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornographic magazine</span> Magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature

Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult magazines or sex magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is the case in softcore pornography, and, in the usual case of hardcore pornography, depictions of masturbation, oral, manual, vaginal, or anal sex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chronophotography</span> Photographic technique which captures changes in the subjects motion over time

Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of locomotion, to discover practical information for animal handlers and/or as reference material for artists. Although many results were not intended to be exhibited as moving pictures, there is much overlap with the more or less simultaneous quest to register and exhibit photographic motion pictures.

<i>Tableau vivant</i> Static scene containing one or more actors or models

A tableau vivant, French for 'living picture', is a static scene containing one or more actors or models. They are stationary and silent, usually in costume, carefully posed, with props and/or scenery, and may be theatrically lit. It thus combines aspects of theatre and the visual arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Depictions of nudity</span> Visual representations of the nude human form

Depictions of nudity include all of the representations or portrayals of the unclothed human body in visual media. In a picture-making civilization, pictorial conventions continually reaffirm what is natural in human appearance, which is part of socialization. In Western societies, the contexts for depictions of nudity include information, art and pornography. Information includes both science and education. Any ambiguous image not easily fitting into one of these categories may be misinterpreted, leading to disputes. The most contentious disputes are between fine art and erotic images, which define the legal distinction of which images are permitted or prohibited.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to photography:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of erotic depictions</span> Aspect of history

The history of erotic depictions includes paintings, sculpture, photographs, dramatic arts, music and writings that show scenes of a sexual nature throughout time. They have been created by nearly every civilization, ancient and modern. Early cultures often associated the sexual act with supernatural forces and thus their religion is intertwined with such depictions. In Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Japan and China, representations of sex and erotic art have specific spiritual meanings within native religions. The ancient Greeks and Romans produced much art and decoration of an erotic nature, much of it integrated with their religious beliefs and cultural practices.

Boudoir photography is a photographic style featuring intimate, sensual, romantic, and sometimes erotic images of its subjects in a photographic studio, bedroom or private dressing room environment, primarily intended for the private enjoyment of the subjects and their romantic partners. It is distinct from glamour and art nude photography in that it is usually more suggestive rather than explicit in its approach to nudity and sexuality, features subjects who do not regularly model, and produces images that are not intended to be seen by a wide audience, but rather to remain under the control of the subject.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julien Mandel</span> French photographer

Julien Mandel was a Jewish photographer and filmmaker. He was one of the best-known commercial photographers of female nudes of the early twentieth century. He worked in Paris and his signature photography became known in the 1910s and was published through the mid-1930s by such firms as Armand Noyer, Les Studios, P-C Paris, and the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude photography</span> Photography of the naked human body.

Nude photography is the creation of any photograph which contains an image of a nude or semi-nude person, or an image suggestive of nudity. Nude photography is undertaken for a variety of purposes, including educational uses, commercial applications and artistic creations. The exhibition or publication of nude photographs may be controversial, more so in some cultures or countries than in others, and especially if the subject is a minor.

Julien Vallou de Villeneuve was a French painter, lithographer and photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Marcus</span> American photographer

Ken Marcus is a famous American photographer, best known for his work in glamour and erotic photography with Penthouse and Playboy magazines and for his own website. For over 40 years he has produced hundreds of centerfolds, editorials, album covers, and advertisements. For many years, Marcus has lectured and conducted professional workshops in the US and internationally.

Glamour photography is a genre of photography in which the subjects are portrayed in erotic poses ranging from fully clothed to nude. The term may be a euphemism for erotic photography. For glamour models, body shape and size are directly related to success. This type of photography is also known as "cheesecake" or "pin-up" for women and "beefcake" for men.

Mary Birgitte Cecilie Magdalene Willumsen (1884–1961) was a Danish photographer who, as early as 1916, sold postcards with photographs of women in scanty clothing or nude postures taken at Copenhagen's Helgoland beach establishment. She discontinued her work when the police began to show interest in kiosks selling nude photographs. Her work is now considered to have considerable artistic value.

Fine art nude photography is a genre of fine-art photography which depicts the nude human body with an emphasis on form, composition, emotional content, and other aesthetic qualities. The nude has been a prominent subject of photography since its invention, and played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art medium. The distinction between fine art photography and other subgenres is not absolute, but there are certain defining characteristics.

A French postcard is a small, postcard-sized piece of cardstock featuring a photograph of a nude or semi-nude woman. Such erotic cards were produced in great volume, primarily in France, in the late 19th and early 20th century. The term was adopted in the United States, where such cards were not legally made. The cards were sold as postcards, but the primary purpose was not for sending by mail, as they would have been banned from delivery. The cards sometimes even depicted naked lesbians. French street vendors, tobacco shops and a variety of other vendors bought the photographs for resale to tourists.

Jean Agélou was a French photographer of the 1910s and 1920s, best known for his erotic and nude photographs made at the beginning of the 20th century. Agélou was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in October 1878.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Physique photography</span>

Physique photography is a tradition of photography of nude or semi-nude men which was largely popular between the early 20th century and the 1960s. Physique photography originated with the physical culture and bodybuilding movements of the early 20th century, but was gradually co-opted by homosexual producers and consumers, who favoured increasingly homoerotic content. The practiced reached its height in the 1950s and early 1960s with the inception of physique magazines, which existed largely to showcase physique photographs and were widely consumed by a mostly-gay audience.

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, Alex. "When Art Fought the Law and the Art Won". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Bayley, Stephen. "A Brief History of Erotic Photography". Sotheby's. Sotheby's Auction House. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "Who Is Adah Menken?". The Great Bare. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  4. ↑ Cross, J.M. (2001-02-04). "Nineteenth-Century Photography: A Timeline". The Victorian Web. The University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Chris Rodley, Dev Varma, Kate Williams III (Directors) Marilyn Milgrom, Grant Romer, Rolf Borowczak, Bob Guccione, Dean Kuipers (Cast) (2006-03-07). Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization (DVD). Port Washington, NY: Koch Vision. ISBN   1-4172-2885-7. Archived from the original on 2010-08-22. Retrieved 2006-10-21.
  6. ↑ Marshall, Peter. "Nude photography, 1840-1920, Part 1: The Body". About: Photography. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 2007-02-18.
  7. ↑ "LisaSkirts.com". Archived from the original on 2006-03-10. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  8. ↑ Wheatstone, Charles (June 21, 1838). "Contributions to the Physiology of Vision.—Part the First. On some remarkable, and hitherto unobserved, Phenomena of Binocular Vision". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Royal Society of London. 128: 371–394. doi:10.1098/rstl.1838.0019. S2CID   36512205 . Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  9. ↑ Klein, Alexander. "Sir Charles Wheatstone". Stereoscopy.com. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
  10. ↑ Schaaf, Larry (1999). "The Calotype Process". Glasgow University Library. Archived from the original on 2006-06-19. Retrieved 2006-08-23.
  11. ↑ The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States, Philip Herbst. Intercultural Press, 1997, ISBN   978-1877864421. p.86.
  12. ↑ De l'académisme à la photo de charme, Christian Bourdon. Paris: Marval, 2006 ISBN   978-2862343945
  13. ↑ "Fernande 1910s Nude Model". Paper Icons. Archived from the original on 2013-06-05. Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  14. ↑ Bourdon, Christian (2006). Marval (ed.). Jean Agélou: De l'académisme à la photo de charme (in French). París. ISBN   978-2862343945.
  15. ↑ "Alexandre-Jacques Chantron (1842 – 1918)". Julian Simon Fine Art. Archived from the original on 2012-07-04. Retrieved 2012-10-07.
  16. ↑ "Tallulahs Classical Nude Poses; Classical Nude Poses of Julian Mandel". Archived from the original on 2006-07-16. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  17. 1 2 "Vintage Female Nude Photography from BigKugels.com" . Retrieved 2006-10-05.
  18. ↑ "Arundel Holmes Nicholls". papericons.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  19. ↑ Marshall, Peter. "Nude 101: A Beginners Guide to Nude Photography, Part 3: Finding Models". About: Photography. The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 2007-06-04.
  20. ↑ Ruiter, André (2024). "The Atrium of Jules Richard". Stereoscopy History.
  21. ↑ Ruiter, André (2024). "Jean Agélou stereoviews". Stereoscopy History.
  22. ↑ Mark Gabor: The Illustrated History of Girlie Magazines. Random House, New York 1984. ISBN   0-517-54997-2

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.