Fetish art is art that depicts people in fetishistic situations such as S&M, domination/submission, bondage, transvestism and the like, sometimes in combination. It may simply depict a person dressed in fetish clothing, which could include undergarments, stockings, high heels, corsets, or boots. A common fetish theme is a woman dressed as a dominatrix.
Many of the 'classic' 1940s, 1950s and 1960s-era fetish artists such as Eric Stanton and Gene Bilbrew began their careers at Irving Klaw's Movie Star News company (later Nutrix), creating drawings for episodic illustrated bondage stories.
In 1946 fetish artist John Coutts (a.k.a. John Willie) founded Bizarre magazine. Bizarre was first published in Canada, then printed in the U.S., and was the inspiration for a number of new fetish magazines such as Bizarre Life. [1] In 1957 English engineer John Sutcliffe founded Atomage magazine, which featured images of the rubber clothing he had made. [1] Sutcliffe's work would inspire Dianna Rigg's leather-catsuit-wearing character in The Avengers , a TV show that "opened the floodgates for fetish-SM images". [1]
In the 1970s and 1980s, fetish artists such as Robert Bishop were published extensively in bondage magazines. In more recent years, the annual SIGNY awards have been awarded to the bondage artists voted the best of that year.
Many artists working in the mainstream comic book industry have included fetishistic imagery in their work, usually as a shock tactic or to denote villainy or corruption. The boost that depictions of beautiful women in tight fetish outfits give to the sales of comics to a mostly teenage male comic-buying audience may also be a factor.[ citation needed ] In 1950s America comics with bondage or fetish themes began appearing. [2] Around the same time, fetish artists influenced the cartoons of George Petty, Alberto Vargas and others, which featured in magazines like Playboy and Esquire . [2] One example of fetish imagery in comics is the catsuit-wearing, whip-wielding Catwoman , who has been called, "an icon of fetish art". [3]
Many S&M, leather and fetish artists have produced images depicting urine fetishism ("watersports"), including Domino, Touko Laaksonen ("Tom of Finland"), Matt, and Bill Schmeling ("The Hun"). [4]
Mainstream fine artists such as Allen Jones have included strong fetish elements in their work. An artist whose erotica transcends to mainstream collectors is found in the Shunga and Shibari style works of Hajime Sorayama. Taschen books included artist Hajime Sorayama, whom his peer artists call a cross between Norman Rockwell and Salvador Dalí, or an imaginative modern day Vargas. Sorayama's robotic diverse illustrative works are in the permanent collections of the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as the fetish arts in the private World Erotic Art Museum Miami collection.
The works of contemporary fetish artists such as Roberto Baldazzini and Michael Manning are published by companies such as NBM Publishing and Taschen.
A dominatrix, domme, or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are popularly known for inflicting physical pain on their submissive subjects, but this is not done in every case. In some instances erotic humiliation is used, such as verbal humiliation or the assignment of humiliating tasks. Dominatrices also make use of other forms of servitude. A dominatrix is typically a paid professional (pro-domme) as the term dominatrix is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene. Practices of domination common to many BDSM and other various sexual relationships are also prevalent, such as various forms of body worship, vagina worship, ass worship, fellatio, foot worship; tease and denial; corporal punishment including spanking, breast torture, caning, whipping; orgasm denial; and as well as verbal humiliation, face slapping, hair pulling, dripping hot wax on the genitals, spitting, golden showers, "forced" chastity, cock and ball torture and irrumatio.
A fetish model is a model who models fetish clothing or accessories that augment their body in a fetish-like manner or in fetishistic situations. Fetish models do not necessarily work exclusively in that form of modeling.
Bondage pornography is the depiction of sexual bondage or other BDSM activities using photographs, stories, films or drawings. Though often described as pornography, the genre involves the presentation of bondage fetishism or BDSM scenarios and does not necessarily involve the commonly understood pornographic styles. In fact, the genre is primarily interested with the presentation of a bondage scene and less with depictions of sexuality, such as nudity or sex scenes, which may be viewed as a distraction from the aesthetics and eroticism of the sex scenario itself.
John Alexander Scott Coutts, better known by the pseudonym John Willie, was an artist, fetish photographer, editor and the publisher of the first 20 issues of the fetish magazine Bizarre, featuring his characters Sweet Gwendoline and Sir Dystic d'Arcy. Though distributed underground, Bizarre magazine had a far-reaching impact on later fetish-themed publications and experienced a resurgence in popularity, along with fetish model Bettie Page, beginning in the 1970s.
Eric Stanton was an American underground cartoonist and fetish art pioneer.
Bondage, in the BDSM subculture, is the practice of consensually tying, binding, or restraining a partner for erotic, aesthetic, or somatosensory stimulation. A partner may be physically restrained in a variety of ways, including the use of rope, cuffs, bondage tape, or self-adhering bandage.
Fetish fashion is any style or appearance in the form of a type of clothing or accessory, created to be extreme or provocative in a fetishistic manner. These styles are by definition not worn by the majority of people; if everyone wears an item, it cannot have fetishistic, special nature. They are usually made of materials such as leather, latex or synthetic rubber or plastic, nylon, PVC, spandex, fishnet, and stainless steel. Some fetish fashion items include: stiletto heel shoes and boots, hobble skirts, corsets, collars, full-body latex catsuits, stockings, miniskirt, crotchless underwear, jockstraps, diapers, garters, locks, rings, zippers, eyewear, handcuffs, and stylized costumes based on more traditional outfits, such as wedding dresses that are almost completely see-through lace, or lingerie for men.
Rubber fetishism, or latex fetishism, is the fetishistic attraction to people wearing latex clothing or, in certain cases, to the garments themselves. PVC fetishism is closely related to rubber fetishism, with the former referring to shiny clothes made of the synthetic plastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the latter referring to clothes made of rubber, which is generally thicker, less shiny, and more matte than latex. PVC is sometimes confused with the similarly shiny patent leather, which is also a fetish material. Latex or rubber fetishists sometimes refer to themselves as "rubberists". Gay male rubberists tend to call themselves "rubbermen".
Bettie Mae Page was an American model who gained notoriety in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. She was often referred to as the "Queen of Pinups": her long jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark bangs have influenced artists for generations. After her death, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner called her "a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society".
Irving Klaw, self-named the "Pin-up King", was an influential American merchant of sexploitation, fetish, and Hollywood glamour pin-up photographs and films. Like his predecessor, Charles Guyette, who was also a merchant of fetish-themed photographs, Klaw was not a photographer, but a merchandiser of fetish art imagery and films. His great contribution to the world was to commission fetish art and sponsor illustrative artists, and to indirectly promote the legacy of Charles Guyette and John Willie. Irving Klaw is a central figure in what fetish art historian Richard Pérez Seves has designated as the "Bizarre Underground," the pre-1970 fetish art years.
Hajime Sorayama is a Japanese illustrator known, along for his design work on the original Sony AIBO, for his precisely detailed, erotic portrayals of feminine robots. He describes his highly detailed style as "superrealism", which he says "deals with the technical issue of how close one can get to one's object."
Eugene "Gene" Bilbrew was an African-American vocal group singer, cartoonist, and "bizarre art" pioneer. As noted in the biography, GENE BILBREW REVEALED: The Unsung Legacy of a Fetish Art Pioneer, he was "the first black career fetish artist in history." Starting in the mid-1950s, he was among the most prolific illustrators of fetish-oriented pulp book covers. In addition to signing his work under his own name, he produced art under a range of pseudonyms, including ENEG, Van Rod, and Bondy.
Exotique was a specialized fetish magazine published by Leonard Burtman under his Burmel Publishing Company imprint in New York City between 1955 and 1959. The magazine's femdom theme, photos, and artwork mark it as a direct descendant of the first major fetish magazine Bizarre (1946–1959), produced by John Willie.
John Sutcliffe was a British fashion designer and fetish photographer, famous in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s as a designer of clothes for aficionados of leather, rubber and PVC fetishism, with an emphasis on rubber and leather catsuits, cloaks, and gasmasks.
Glove fetishism is a form of sexual fetishism relating to gloves, referring to sexual preoccupation with gloves of various kinds. Persons with this fetish find the gloves themselves arouse sexual feelings, whether visualised, worn by themselves or when worn or held by someone else, and in particular by a partner. In some cases, the fetish is enhanced by the material of the glove. Often, the actions of a gloved hand are as arousing as the glove itself, because the glove provides a second skin, or in other words a fetishistic surrogate for the wearer's own skin. Medical gloves and rubber gloves provide a safer sex environment. Subtle movements by the gloved fingers or the hand as a whole can provide the individual with an visual stimulus and sexual arousal. The act of putting gloves on, or slipping them off the hands, can also be a source of glove fetish fantasy and delight. Smell may also be a factor, in particular when it comes to latex or rubber, as can be the sound of latex or with leather gloves, where the distinct odour can enhance the fetishistic experience. Glove fetishism may also coexist with hand fetishism. Many glove fetishists build a collection of gloves and take pleasure in buying gloves over the counter or online. Receiving parcels containing internet purchased gloves may provide an extra-special frisson for the glove fetishist.
The catch-all term adult comics typically denotes comic books, comic magazines, comic strips or graphic novels that are marketed either mainly or strictly towards adult readers. This can be because they contain material that could be considered thematically inappropriate for children, including vulgarity, morally questionable actions, disturbing imagery, and sexually explicit material.
Clothing fetishism or garment fetishism is a sexual fetish that revolves around a fixation upon a particular article or type of clothing, a particular fashion or uniform, or a person dressed in such a style.
Movie Star News was a New York City landmark and is a collection of vintage pin-up, bondage, and Hollywood publicity photos amassed over the course of 73 years by Irving Klaw, his sister Paula Klaw and nephew Ira Kramer– nearly 3 million images and 250,000 negatives, including 1,500 prints of Bettie Page, known as the queen of pin-ups.
Charles Guyette was a pioneer of fetish style, the first person in the United States to produce and distribute fetish art, and regarded as the mail-order predecessor of Irving Klaw. Later known as the "G-String King," he is best remembered for his bizarre photographs, some of which featured sadomasochistic content.
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