Frida Kahlo Uterus Plushie

I love this Frida Kahlo Uterus Plushie by VulvaLoveLovely -- not only adorable, but the artist has substance to go with her skills, creating an ode of a post to Kahlo and her creation.

Yes; I do accept gifts.

Make Him Sit Up & Beg

Deanna, aka Pop Tart, send me these images while searching for items for her "Dames & Dogs" posts. (See also her post of a dog enjoying an up-skirt view.)




You should not give canines chocolate; similarly, human dawgs should thus be teased.

Both illustrations by A. K. MacDonald appeared in the February 28 1934 issue of The Sketch and are titled Delikatessen!

The Sketch, one of Ingram's "Illustrated Newspapers" was published in London from 1893-1959. The publication was "entertainment for the masses," focusing on music hall, vaudeville, early cinema, pin-up, high society, sporting occasions and light gossip. Just our cup of tea! It began as a weekly publication & then was published fortnightly from mid-WW2 onwards.

A.K. MacDonald, aka Alistair MacDonald aka Alistair K. MacDonald (1898-1947), was an illustrator whose art nouveau postcards are highly collectible. Like Kirchner, MacDonald also did charming erotic nudes.

Weston Nude Photograph Auction

This Weston nude photograph titled Nude (Charis, Santa Monica) will be up for auction March 30 at Sotheby's and is expected to fetch $6,000 - 9,000.



The details of the work are as follows:

9 3/8 by 7 1/2 in. (23.8 by 19.1 cm.)

DESCRIPTION

mounted, signed, annotated, and stamped by Cole Weston on the reverse, 1930, printed later by Cole Weston from his father's negative

LITERATURE AND REFERENCES

Conger 968; Edward Weston Nudes, p. 83; Photography and Modernism, pl. 75; Through Another Lens, pl. 29; Edward Weston's Book of Nudes, pl. 39

CATALOGUE NOTE

The full catalogue information for this lot is as follows:

mounted, signed, titled, dated, and numbered '227N' by Cole Weston in pencil and with the 'Negative by Edward Weston/Print by Cole Weston' stamp, on the reverse, matted, 1930, printed later by COLE WESTON from EDWARD WESTON'S negative

If you wonder what impact year of creation, edition, signature etc. have on art auction prices, check out the history of pricing (collected by ArtNet)

Title Nude (Charis, Santa Monica)
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.5 x 7.5 in. / 24.1 x 19.1 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting 1951
Edition ed.100
Cat. Rais. Conger, 968
Found./Pub. Brett Weston, prntr
Misc. Signed, Stamped
Sale Of Sotheby's New York: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 [Lot 194]
Photographs
Estimate 25,000 - 35,000 US$
Sold For 91,000 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude - Charis, Santa Monica (from Fiftieth Anniversary Portfolio)
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.4 x 7.5 in. / 24 x 19 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting 1951
Edition ed.100
Found./Pub. Brett Weston, prntr
Misc. Signed, Stamped
Sale Of Sotheby's New York: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 [Lot 139]
Photographs
Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 US$
Sold For 52,800 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.4 x 7.5 in. / 24 x 19 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Description EDWARD WESTON Nude, 1936 gelatin silver print, printed later by Cole more ...
Edition no. 227N
Found./Pub. Cole Weston, pub.
Misc. Signed, Inscribed, Stamped
Sale Of Christie's New York: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 [Lot 335]
Photographs
Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 US$
Sold For 20,000 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.5 x 7.5 in. / 24.2 x 19.1 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Misc. Signed, Inscribed, Stamped
Sale Of Christie's New York: Thursday, February 15, 2007 [Lot 95]
Photographs
Estimate 4,000 - 6,000 US$
Sold For 18,000 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.3 x 7.5 in. / 23.7 x 19 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Description EDWARD WESTON (1886-1958) Nude, 1936 gelatin silver print, printed more ...
Misc. Signed, Stamped
Sale Of Christie's New York: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 [Lot 190]
Photographs
Estimate 7,000 - 9,000 US$
Sold For 13,750 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.5 x 7.5 in. / 24.2 x 19.1 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Found./Pub. Cole Weston, prntr
Misc. Stamped
Sale Of Christie's New York: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 [Lot 313]
Photographs
Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 US$
Sold For 12,000 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.1 x 7.5 in. / 23.2 x 19.1 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Misc. Signed, Inscribed, Stamped
Sale Of Christie's New York: Thursday, October 18, 2007 [Lot 285]
Photographs
Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 US$
Sold For 10,625 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude (Charis, Santa Monica)
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.4 x 7.4 in. / 23.8 x 18.7 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Description Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958) Nude (Charis, more ...
Misc. Signed, Inscribed, Stamped
Sale Of Bonhams & Butterfields: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 [Lot 185]
Photographs
Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 US$
Sold For 8,400 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude in the doorway, Charis, Santa Monica
Medium gelatin silver print
Size 9.4 x 7.4 in. / 23.8 x 18.7 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Description EDWARD WESTON Nude in the Doorway (Charis, more ...
Misc. Signed, Inscribed, Stamped
Sale Of Phillips de Pury & Company London: Saturday, May 17, 2008 [Lot 205]
Photographs
Estimate 3,000 - 5,000 BP (5,915 - 9,859 US$)
Sold For 4,000 BP (7,887 US$) PREMIUM Currency Converter


Title Nude
Medium gelatin silver print, mntd
Size 9.4 x 7.5 in. / 23.8 x 19.1 cm.
Year 1936 -
Printing/
Casting Later Imp
Found./Pub. Cole Weston, prntr
Misc. Stamped
Sale Of Phillips, de Pury & Company New York: Thursday, June 7, 2007 [Lot 121]
Photographs
Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 US$
Sold For 7,350 US$ PREMIUM Currency Converter

Chocolate Kiss Nipples Surrounded By Peanut Butter Cookie Breast

I could just be hungry, but that's what I see when I look at this 1950 nude by Clement Haupers -- a peanut butter kiss cookie.



Hey, that comment can't be anywhere near as racist as the work's title, High Brown.

The work is part of the American and European Paintings Auction, March 12, 2009 at Cowan's Auctions.

It's Time For Chef Boy-Ar-Dee -- And Boobies

This painting with nude breasts by Rolf Stoll was formerly owned by Chef Boyardee (aka Ettore Boiardi) and so hung in his Ohio restaurant -- which is proof that old Ettore had better taste than his canned pasta.


The painting is part of the American and European Paintings Auction, March 12, 2009 at Cowan's Auctions, with an estimated value of $4,000-6,000. Dat a makes for a spicy meat-a ball-a.

Andalusian Fantasy
oil on canvas
signed l.r.
housed in stenciled Art Deco frame
50" x 35"

EXHIBITED

Ohio State Fair, 1934
Cleveland Art Museum, Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen, April 2nd-June 3rd, 1934

Provenance: This painting originally hung in the Italian Restaurant Giardino d'Italia in Cleveland, Ohio, and was owned by Ettore Boiardi, founder of the Chef Boyardee Company
Descended from the Above to the Present Owner

Condition: Very small area of craquelure in center, four tiny flakes to paint in center, otherwise excellent condition.
(EST $4000-$6000)

Photography Assignment In Studio 61

Slip of a Girl has been sharing photos from the Fall 1951 issue of Photography Workshop (#3). The photos are from, and most of the issue devoted to, "Assignment in Studio 61", an artistic experiment in which 12 photographers photograph the same items. Here's a more precise description from the publication itself:

Each photographer was shown into a studio room that contained an assortment of interesting props. Each was also given a dozen sheets of test pictures for selecting one to three models. Working within the confines of this one studio room and with these particular props and subjects, the photographer was then to let his imagination loose and make any sort of photographs that came into his mind -- portraits, still lifes, figure studies, abstractions or fashion pictures.

The most recent photo she's shared comes from photo-journalist W. Eugene Smith, who was at the time a staff photographer for Life magazine. There are 20 more photos, little 2 & 1/2 inch squares, which I'm showing here -- not just because of their nudity, but because of the text published along with the photos.






We begin with the first paragraph (of four), written as an introduction by the publication:

W. Eugene Smith, an intense, congenial, 33-year-old photographer whose work we have admired for the past decade, approached the Studio 61 project with some reluctance. To Gene, a photograph is no simple matter of tripping a shutter. It is a profound personal experience. He insists on becoming, through his camera, intimately involved in his subject. He approaches the scene of picture making with a "desperate terror" that he will fail to record the perfect picture. The perfect picture, he explains with passionate vagueness, is a "three-dimensional, or mental essay" on the subject, and anything less than this is a humiliation just short of death.

The text continues to say that the photographer spent from dusk to dawn at the studio and still, "as usual, he was not satisfied with the results."






He only allowed the prints to be seen and published "after getting our promise to run his testimony that the pictures were to be considered only as 'finger exercises' for limbering up a subject."





And then Gene's own words were printed -- I find them fascinating:

I had just returned from Spain and a story that had involved my emotions to the exhaustion point, when it was suggested that I do this trick for the Workshop. All right, I thought, for once I would do pictures in which there was no need to be emotionally involved.

In that night of work, the nearer I got to shooting, the more upset I got. I soon realized that I couldn't compromise my integrity. I had no definite statement to make with a subject brought illogically into an assortment of props. I was trying to compose nothing into nothing. What I am interested in, as a photo-journalist, is truth. You would not ask Arthur Miller to write an Olsen and Johnsen musical. Nor would you ask William Faulkner to write an advertisement for Maidenform brassieres.

I objected to the layout treatment given my pictures. There were arbitrarily cut into twenty small squares by the editors. I never compose in squares, and when I do compose with the camera that I used that night -- a Contax -- I compose to the edge. Most of the time that night, I was searching and operating the camera for the sole purpose of relaxing my subject. I started taking pictures to build to something in the same way that a play is rehearsed; you allow the the thing to grow. (How many times have I taken a three rolls of of pictures as fast as I could! Just to get the subject to bored and unaware of of the camera.) Sometimes I wouldn't even have bothered to focus.

I feel that these odd scraps of pictures should not be published. No one would think of playing all the disconnected musical fragments Beethoven wrote in the construction of a symphony.

I aim to devote my camera to sincere presentation of character. I want to express this character accurately. Recently, I withdrew a print from an exhibition of mine -- a print that several critics had called one of my best photographs. I withdrew it because, since taking the the picture, I had come to know the subject better. My understanding of that person had changed; I had lost respect for this person and did not believe that he deserved the dignity that the portrait conveyed. To me, then, the picture was a fraud.

I would like to take my Studio 61 subject, study her for weeks, and then photograph her again. Perhaps, then, I could show in pictures what she truly is, who she is, why she is.

At the risk of sounding like your Art 101 instructor, here's what fascinates me about Smith's words and work...






I can't help but wonder what the photos looked like before the editor cropped them to those small squares... For example, #15 is the cropped version of the latest one at Slip's blog; there's certainly a huge difference in the appeal to me.

And after reading Smith's words, I cringe at the obviously non-linear order the photos are presented in (yes, they are shown in the order presented on the page); it seems more insult to injury to have destroyed any attempt to show the growing story.

I also cringed every single time Smith used the word "pictures" rather than photographs (and then again when I typed it). This due to former my art instructors who insisted we use the word "photograph"; like "painting", it separated art from doodles, graphics & other visual things, and also distinguished one form of art from another. Perhaps this is not necessary to the conversation today; but, hey, it's my blog.

Speaking of art...

I would have enjoyed the photographs more (or at least most of them -- certainly some are 'better' than others to me) had I not read Smith's words. But knowing what I know now, I must say it begs the question that I once threw at my art instructor when she showed us images of a Venus statue buried deep in a garbage pit, found by archaeologists, then proffered as "art": Is it really art if the artist himself is dissatisfied? If art is expression & communication, and the artist is unhappy with his result, then can it really be called art?





If not, then Smith's displeasure at the photographs renders them what... pornography? Maybe not, because while I like many of the photos, I don't find them arousing. (Hmm, well, maybe #6; but that's because I have breasts and I can feel the coldness emanating off of the metal headboard finger my bare -- not touching the headboard, but merely near it -- breast.) Then again, I don't get aroused by much of what is called "pornography." But as the photos were cropped, adjusted by an editor, would that make the editor the pornographer? Similarly, if I like them in any way, does that make the editor the artist?

And if the photos had both pleased Smith and aroused me, could they really be porn at all -- because Smith himself defines his work as pictures that show "what she truly is, who she is, why she is" and, since no one is "all arousing all the time" (no matter what your lover says!), doesn't that remove all possibility of his nude photographs being porn at all?

Maybe then the photos are indeed just 'pictures' or snaps like anyone with a camera would take. But they were not taken by just anyone; they are photos by W. Eugene Smith.

Does Smith's standing as a photojournalist affect your viewing of the images?

Does his credibility change, do his words change in meaning -- or your interpretation thereof -- when you learn that Smith was institutionalized at Bellevue a year or so prior to his taking the photos?

Odalisque Perfume Ads Stink

Nettie Rosenstein's Odalisque Perfume ads in the 40's and 50's romanticized "odalisque" including the risque use of artistic nudes in the print ad campaigns.



"Odalisque" is a French form of the Turkish odalık, meaning "chambermaid." The term specifically signifies a virgin female slave who, being the lowest ranking member of a harem, was not allowed to serve the sultan but instead his concubines and/or wives.

There's not a whole lot of romance there, Nettie Rosenstein; not in being a slave, not in being the one to deal with the piss-pots of the harem, not in being too-lowly to even deal with the master -- unless, of course, you could prove a 'talent' and work your way 'up' from piss-pots to male pissing tools and be a sexual servant.

But Nettie was not alone in romanticizing these women. In the 19th century, odalisques were common fantasy figures in the Orientalism movement, featured in many erotic paintings from that era.

High-Five Friday: Getting By With A Little Help From My Friends Edition

This week's High-Fives on this Friday, possible because you all send in good stuff.

1 From Gracie at Sex-Kitten: The real Little Dorrit: the inspiration for Dickens' classic novel was a single mother- turned-prostitute.

2 A report in a 1979 National Enquirer leads to an explanation of why "Women Born From 1905 to 1909 Had The Fewest Children."

3 CR/LF sent me a link to Dances of Port Said.

4 Sweat Shop Sissy sent this link to Slip of a Girl, who then sent it to me: Sex tips, from the year 1894.

5 John Coulthart (via BoingBoing) sent me a link to this signed bronze piece which has already been sold. However, there's another, and note how the satyr's head can be removed to see the rigid cock.

Huddled Mass Yearning

The image of Statue of Liberty is projected onto a nude woman's body so cleverly that Lady Liberty's torch seems to toy with her nipple.



Via Heather_Koslov at Flickr.

Nude, Laying On Side (Unknown Artist)

It occurs to me that I have not ever shown you any of the sketches found in that Paramount Folder. Since it clearly belonged to a student of the arts (formalized education or no, I cannot say), it seems only proper to show examples of his or her work.

Original Playboy Art Auction

A limited number of classic original art works from Playboy's legendary archives are being via Heritage Auction Galleries on October 15.

Playboy—The Art of Beauty is a "selected group of 16 sexy, humorous artworks represents some of Playboy’s most renowned contributors, including Alberto Vargas, LeRoy Neiman and Gahan Wilson, as well as four full-length, full-color Little Annie Fannie strips by Harvey Kurtzman."

Should your pockets be deeper than mine, you can view the offerings and bid here -- and if your pockets are deeper than mine, please consider donating winnings to me.

Whoa, Nelly

Whoa there, Nelly; this Hong Shan jade horse may be well hung, but it's for showin' not for, err, stowin'


The seller says:

Large Jade Phallus Phallic with Horse -5000 B.C.

Dating: Neolithic Period (Hong Shan culture, 5000-3000 B.C)

Material: Jade stone

Weight: 1850gram, 1.85Kg

Dimension: 335*105mm, 13.19"*4.13" (Length*Height)

Condition: Good Original, Slight degenerate, very fine hand carving

Pottery Sex Therapy

Many thanks to Will for sending me this ages ago -- pottery bookends found at a thrift shop. Take a good look, because there's a lot going on all over these bookends.


Apparently the photo taker/shopper, drowningmermaid, had not even noticed the genitalia and screwing:

I like to imagine that these bookends are zombies and their beards are made of brains.
EDIT: HOLY SHIT, you guys!! I didn't even notice all the sexual stuff before. I kept going back to them in the store because there was something about them but I couldn't pinpoint it. I'm going back tomorrow and I'm buying them!! The call has been made to the store. They're behind the counter waiting for me! WOO and HOO!

Too bad, because for $2 I was gonna ask the mermaid to get them for me.

Grab A Pair

The seller of this reprint, who has marked the image with his seller ID, claims this is a reprint of an item from his own collection -- but sadly says nothing else about it. (Too bad, because I occasionally buy reprints if I know something about the original.) The fruit & breasts as wares on display naturally reminds me of the vintage bumper crop of boobies promo piece.

She Came Up To See His Etchings

And stayed to model.

The History Of Sex And Real People Nudity Sexual Oral History People Nology

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The History Of Sex And Real People Nudity Sexual Oral History People Nology

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Female Nude Painting By Pan Yuliang

Sotheby's will be auctioning this beautiful nude by Pan Yuliang Auction estimate is 400,000—600,000 HKD.



From the auction lot description:

measurements note
43.5 by 35cm.; 17 by 13 5/8in.

DESCRIPTION

signed in Chinese with the artist's seal mark in the upper left, framed Executed circa 1940s

ink and watercolour on paper board

Counting On The Kindness Of Satyrs

From the Sotheby's listing:

FOLLOWER OF JOHANN CARL LOTH
SATYR AND BACCHANTE

5,000—7,000 EUR

MEASUREMENTS

107.8 by 75 cm.

DESCRIPTION

oil on canvas

Muse Of Erotic Poetry - Oh, The Possibilities

A white glazed terracotta figure of what Sotheby's calls "possibly the muse Erato" (an assumption likely made due to the lyre) which "possibly" is a 19th century French piece -- possibly fetching 5,000—8,000 EUR.

Sanity In Art Circa 1936 (Or, Let's Hate Modernism)

Inside the Parmount folder I found pages 5-8 of The Milwaukee Journal from Sunday, August 9, 1936. The pages appear to be from the "art" section, with lots of interesting bits on what was happening in arts at the time. None, perhaps, more interesting to me than this article, Mrs. Logan, Chicago Art Patron, Writes Book Against Modernism, which was published on page 6.



It's so grand, I have to type it all out -- giving you no reason not to read it:

Mrs. Frank G. Logan, Chicago, originator of the now nation-wide Sanity in Art movement, has announced that she will carry her fight against "modern, moronic grotesqueries" right into the American home.

Plan citizens of this country, accustomed to talking their art as the museums hand it to them, will become conscious of the fraud that is being perpetrated against them, says Mrs. Logan, and "sweep the rubbish from the galleries."

Mrs. Logan, whose state of nerves over art followed a predominantly modern exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago last winter, is the wife of an institute trustee and donor of the Logan prizes and many other art awards, as well as a generous contributor to the institute.

Calls It Junk

"Even a kitchen calendar can be an inspiration to the housewife if it shows a reproduction of one of the old masters," Mrs. Logan said as she sat in her drawing room facing a Rembrandt and surrounded by a collection including Corot, Rousseau, Van Dyck, Seyffert, Jacques and Hoppner.

"If everyone surrounded himself with copies of our beloved old masters--which we can get for 50 cents--the people would become imbued with a new appreciation of art and would not tolerate the miserable junk some of our museums are showing and calling modern art."

Turner, Ruebns, Innes, and El Greco were among those Mrs. Logan listed for reproduction on calendars and in inexpensive prints to help restore sanity in art judgment to housewives. In course of time the housewife is able to add to the cultural objects in her home in a manner which will create in her children the desire for the better things in life, according to Mrs. Logan.

A Forthcoming Book

While emphasizing that she is in no sense a dictator and wants only to lead people to their best judgment, Mrs. Logan said she was writing a book, also to be called "Sanity in Art," which she hopes will show everybody the folly of modernism.

"I'm deliberately making it an inexpensive book," she said, "so that everyone can have it. I shall use 30 cuts to contrast what is offensive and ridiculous in modern art with the work of real masters, old and new."

Mrs. Logan, who led a fight which resulted in officials in the Art Institute of Chicago bringing "song of the Lark" out of the dusty basement, at least for a time, protested that she is not advocating "mere prettiness which soon palls, but the beauty of form, whether it be of nature of human."

The crusade is carried over the radio and by mail by Mrs. Logan. Each day brings her a gratifying packet of fan mail. Particularly active branch chapters have been formed in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Greenwich, Conn., and Minneapolis, she said.

Mrs. Logan was Josephine Hancock Logan, the daughter of Col. John Lane Hancock (1812-1883), a colonel in the Civil War who later established the largest meatpacking house in Chicago who went on to serve as president of the Chicago Board of Trade, and the wife of Frank Granger Logan, founder of the brokerage house of Logan & Bryan. She is credited as having written books of verse, including Lights and Shadows and Heights and Depths, and "many lyrics including a Negro monolog entitled Longing." But it's the Sanity in Art movement for which Mrs. Logan is (if at all) remembered.

The Sanity in Art movement spread to more locations than noted in The Milwaukee Journal article. In this 1940 Time article article the leader of the Boston branch, Margaret Fitzhugh Browne -- called "the Society's old-maid president" -- is quoted as saying, "[The Picasso show] is an exhibition of crazy stuff. People who went to the show flocked to join the Society for Sanity in Art."

I think this says plenty about the group's philosophy and just who would join -- as well as Time's stance on modernism, despite loud out-burst from 'the public' against it.

However, if you think it was a Picasso which had Josephine Logan's panties in a bunch, it wasn't. Her bloomers became bunched when the Chicago Art Institute gave the Logan prize to Doris Lee's Thanksgiving in 1935; Mrs. Logan was so miffed that she formed an official society, complete with "Inc." and the book, as you've read, was part of the gospel.



In Time's review, they quote Logan from her book Sanity in Art:

Sanity in Art means soundness, rationalism, a correct integration of the art work itself in accordance with some internal logic. We know sanity is often difficult to define, and we also know insanity is often apparent at a glance. ... I have been called an iconoclast, and indeed I am one, in that I am trying to destroy false gods that have been forced upon us in the museums.

I find her statements that the false gods of modernism would be forced upon "us" very intriguing... Certainly her husband had some pull (or push) at the Chicago museum, yet she felt that the art was foisted upon museums. An odd statement as museums are seen (and usually have been seen) as the arbitrators of taste and 'what is art'; gate-keepers who dictate or bestow than those foisted-up or dictated to. Perhaps Mrs. Logan chafed at the younger folks who made more decisions regarding these matters (employees and younger trustees vs. old men like her husband). Or perhaps Mrs. Frank G. Logan chafed at being a woman with no say -- other than to push Mr. Logan, who was, by all accounts at this time anyway, a rather retiring gentleman. But in any case, Josephine, who has more influence than most, feels that 'someone' is duping 'us'. It's curious and makes me wish for her journals & diaries... Perhaps the old grand dame had taken young artists under her wing too *wink*

Back to what we do know.

The Society for Sanity in Art was, to quote Ask Art, "opposed to all forms of modernism, including abstract expressionism, surrealism, and many other changes going on in the world at that time."

I think it's important to note that indeed, the times, they were a-changin' and Mrs. Logan, then approximately 73, wasn't the only one resisting. As noted in the introduction to Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary, edited by Rima Lunin Schultz and Adele Hast (2001), published at the Chicago History Fair site, there were lots of responses to the changing times. Here's a bit from the book's introduction on the Chicago art scene at the time :

In the art world, conservatives split from the Chicago Society of Artists and formed a new organization, the Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors, leaving the modernist core to run the Chicago Society of Artists. Josephine Logan's Sanity in Art organization, founded in 1936, attacked the aesthetics of modernism; Eleanor Jewett, art critic for the Chicago Tribune, shared Logan's point of view and labeled the works of Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent van Gogh brutal, primitive, and childish.

An example of Josephine Logan's power (and her own primitive & childish charm) is told in the following story of when the Chicago Art Institute opened its 47th annual show in 1936:

Last week's Chicago Art Institute show carefully avoided any of the extreme schools of U. S. painting, was described by Chicago's ablest critic, Clarence Joseph Bulliet (Chicago Daily News), as "a sedate show of practically unrelieved conservatism." The jury for painting-Edmund Archer, John Steuart Curry, Jerry Farnsworth, Meyric Rogers, Thomas Tallmadge-salved its artistic conscience by giving Mrs. Logan's prize to an unexceptionable if uninspired studio nude entitled Olympia, by capable, hard-working Robert Philipp of Manhattan.

Late in the afternoon day before the show opened, Mrs. Logan, accompanied by Chicago Tribune Critic Eleanor Jewett, arrived at the museum. Director Robert B. Harshe rushed forward hastily, conducted his patron to the prizewinning Olympia.

"Do you approve, Mrs. Logan? Do you approve?'' he cried anxiously.

"Yes," said Mrs. Logan, "I approve. It is very sweet."

Sweeping through the rest of the gallery, Mrs. Logan looked with marked disfavor on another prizewinner, Earthquake by Jon Corbino, showing a sleeping family on the second floor of a collapsing barn above a group of frightened horses.

"And why, Mr. Harshe," asked she, "should a thing like that be given a prize?" Hanging next to the prizewinning earthquake was a picture by Jim Lee of two amiable Japanese moppets reading a book. As a rebuke. Mrs. Logan bought it.

I cannot find images of Earthquake, nor of the Jim Lee work Logan purchased; but did find the "uninspired studio nude" Olympia by Robert Philipp.



I don't think needs only to rely on Time's characterization that Logan was being a cheeky-little-monkey, purchasing Lee's work to rebuke the award-winning Corbino; I can think of numerous occasions when I've seen such thing.

While Sanity in Art has been called "an aesthetic 'Moral Majority'" * Logan and her ilk were not necessarily prudish when it came to nudity. Being lovers of the classics, they recognized "beauty of form, whether it be of nature of human" such as with Olympia. And even devout movement members who were artists, such as early Sanity in Art member Claudia M. Barkdull McKenzie, created nudes. This is the California painter's Floral Still life with Nude.




"Plump, round-faced Josephine Hancock Logan" not only founded the Society for Sanity in Art, Inc., but gave out its own Sanity in Art Awards. And in 1939 the society had its own first national exhibition at Chicago's Stevens Hotel. Of it, Time said:

Mrs. Logan turned up early, dressed in pink lace, pink gloves, diamond and emerald bracelets, a hat of feathers and flowers. While an eight-piece orchestra played her favorite tunes and she—befeathered, beflowered and bemused—sat humming them, a crowd, many of them oldsters, peered at 255 sane exhibits, murmured brightly: "Isn't it wonderful to see real painting again?" First of the eleven prizes went to Chauncey Ryder, 71, for a harmless landscape; other prizes to sound, conservative Frank W. Benson, 77, mountain-whittling Gutzon Borglum, 68. Herself a little dim about who had won the prizes, Donor Logan purred comfortably: "But they're all my old friends."

Time paints her as some ditzy matron of the arts, forcing me to wonder more about this woman who was so outraged at modernism that she had to start such a public campaign in her 70's. Just a photo would be nice at this point. *sigh*

I could not find any images of the Sanity in Art award, but here's a description from an auction catalog:

SOCIETY FOR SANITY IN ART AWARD MEDAL, 1937. 75.8mm. Bronze. Signed, "Mortens." (MACO) Lightly tarnished Unc. Obverse: SOCIETY FOR SANITY IN ART JOSEPHINE HANCOCK LOGAN FOUNDER around a high relief central bust of Mrs. Logan, looking very much like a wealthy dowager. The reverse features a deco style nude young woman seated above an inscription: SOCIETY FOR SANITY IN ART/ MEDAL/ AWARDED TO/ The medal is not awarded.

It would be easy to imply that Logan and others in the Sanity in Art movement were, well, 'nutty'. But you have to remember the context of time.

Logan and others in this movement had not only survived the great depression (and the Logans did so clearly with wealth & power intact), but they were the product of Victorian values -- and now they faced a changing world which demanded that they acquiesce & fade away.

The changes in art, museums replacing Rembrandts with Picassos, was not just a visual 'out with the old, in with the new' statement, a sign that power was shifting; it was much more than that.

Art was the way one expressed the grace of privilege, both by owning it and by being a patron. On a personal level, one worked hard to be able to afford real art. Such wealth and power had its public responsibility, namely to guard culture & extol values and art was one of the ways to do so. To stand by and watch masters -- or at least the space for their works -- be eviscerated by modernism was to watch one's lifetime (seemingly) become irrelevant and to have concern for the future. What would the values and art of those times be?

While it's easy to see that modernism did more than just survive, and the researcher in me says to let the documentation of the artists Mrs. Logan speak to their own longevity & popularity (especially when compared to the longevity & popularity of those she eschewed), I feel it only fair to state that Mrs. Logan's concerns, the ideals of the Sanity in Art movement, show up continually in any matter of social change -- including reactions to art which reflects such things.

Josephine Hancock Logan passed away in November of 1943 at the age of 81. Her obit notes that she had "dedicated a society for "Sanity in Art" to the proposition that "The 'Cuckoo of Publicity' has laid the egg of a new 'dodo bird' in the hard nest of art," thereafter purred contentedly at her own safe & sane exhibits," and tacks-on a brief mention that she was also co-founder of the American College of Surgeons.

Not long after her passing, the Art Institute of Chicago began used the Logan name to reward just the sort of modern works that Josephine loathed.

It is not clear just what the 'Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize' indicates -- awards, funds, both? -- for the "Purchase Prize" is relegated to a single line associated with specific objects in the collection.

Worse yet, the Logans are ignored on the museum's website entirely.

Since Frank Granger Logan served for more than 50 years on the institution's board, started the Chicago Art Institute's awards, and became honorary president, it seems only decent to acknowledge him. And while Josephine Hancock Logan's legacy may seem more murky in its qualities, it's clear that she was a passionate supporter of the arts. Her reaction to modernism is a part of art history & should be well documented.

The absence is a modern, moronic grotesquery.


It should be clear by now, that if you have any knowledge to add to the story of Josephine Hancock Logan I'd love to hear it. I'm also interested in any papers, books, objects of hers (I can't pay much, but I'll take good care of them!)

Additional stray thoughts...

I could find no references to any radio shows by Mrs. Logan &/or Sanity in Art; but I'll keep looking.

The 'masters on calendars and other inexpensive prints' idea would have been deemed kitsch by Gillo Dorfles. I'm not sure this qualifies as irony, but it bears noting.

* In her book, My Love Affair with Modern Art, Katharine Kuh wrote this of the Sanity in Art movement:

Sanity in Art was like an aesthetic "Moral Majority." It was a rabid movement of art vigilantes with its objective to have the most reactionary art, and only American art at that, shown, bought, or collected in Chicago and the rest of the Midwest. In turn, the group was intent on eliminating the practice of modernism -- any deviation from its rigid provincial code attracted explosive verbal onslaughts. In my case, the attacks were physically threatening as well, as when someone smashed the glass window of the gallery to register disapproval of an exhibition of Joan Miro.

Kuh says the organization was "unique to Chicago", which is not true; but it's her experience as gallery owner which counts here. Of course, Kuh herself is controversial too; but that's for another time.

Tits On A Bird

Kindness Of Strangers is one of my "secret meeting projects" which has been keeping me busy... Making altered art with vintage nudes (don't worry, I'm only cutting up images of no value), like this piece I call In The Beginning:

In the beginning there was the goddess... And fish -- because all creation myths are a bit fishy. Prints from an original altered art piece, created from vintage art nudes, other illustrations & water color paint.

I ask you, "Who hasn't thought of putting tits on ostrich legs?"

High-Five Fridays, The Breast Edition

This week's High-Five Fridays...

1) Artist Lisa Melita's 21 Breast Salute for cancer.

2) The Top 50 Hottest Sci-Fi Girls. (Yes, they have breasts; I know sci-fi worlds can be confusing.)

3) An interview regarding the Ultimate Burlesque anthology, part of Burlesque Against Breast Cancer.

4) CR/LF points out The Joyful Bosom Affair, an art project where women paint with their breasts. I want to know, would you buy my boob-prints? Or would you collectors insist upon the originals? *wink*

5) Gracie becomes breast friends with a Cold Case. (A review -- with clips -- of one of my favorite episodes.)

I Love The Pagan Sexuality

I found this artist, Marie Ducaté, at Slip's art & design blog, and while I wish the photos were larger (and not embeded in flash), I loved them & had to share.

If I could, I'd have these everywhere in my home, so my eyes could wander & play for hours on end -- then wake up, and do it all again...












From the artist's website:

Eros is our guide to travel through the tender map which marie ducaté weaves. Her tempera highlighted pendrawings and her delicate watercolors resume erotic boudoir-talkings.

With lightness and often humour Marie Ducaté's characters move in the middle of a luxurious nature primary and of paradise. Those sensesgardens where people vegetals and animals seem unified in a same joyful impulse have the fawncolors from an Art issued of a primary impulse.

The curved movements, the curved clouds where naked bodies play and rest seem repeat continuously the sensual gesture and the soft caress of a flappingwings.

"The landscape hasn't a realistic function, but a unifying function of the things.", says Marie Ducaté to us. And this is a fact that for her, nature takes a kind of variety as a heavengarden. Fruits, flowers, vegetables, emerge in bunches with appetizing curves.

Which Will You Choose -- And Why?

It's not true that "once you've seen one, you've seen them all" -- nor is all porn the same.


Currently we all have the right to choose our porn (or 'erotica', if you prefer), so we can take what we want and leave the rest; but have you ever really thought about why you select the porn you do?

Gracie has opened up an Aesthetic Response Porn School, where we all state our like &/or dislike of specific erotic images -- including articulating why we feel the way we do.

We began with this image and the next assignment has been posted here; I look forward to you joining us in the discussion. Don't worry, the tuition is free -- as is the porn -- but you'll have some work to do explaining how and why you choose what you choose.

Image show here is from VintageBang.com.

When You Are Turned-Off By Blondes

This vintage postcard is "another 'Dude' Larson card", with art by 'Hoke' Denetsosie -- and it isn't one that I would buy.




I bet you're thinking that I'm a brunette, or otherwise turned-off by the sentiments, "Gentlemen prefer blondes because blondes know what gentlemen prefer"; but I'm not one of those women so easily characterized by male stereotypes. (And no, I won't disclose my hair color du jour.)

Blonde or not, the reason why I wouldn't purchase this card is the art; with all due respect to Hoke, there's just something I don't like about the woman's face. And that's all it takes to make a collector turn and walk away.

Collecting is largely about personal response to something. To any little thing, really. It could be a dislike of the "superior blondes" caricature -- or that could be precisely why you want it. For every collector there's a reason, no matter how seemingly nonsensical. For me, this time, it's a simple dislike of the woman's face.

But I am willing to admit that this collector has a price... Should I stumble into this old postcard for a buck or two, I might change my mind. And if it's free, I'll certainly grab it.

But for now I'll save my money for some other blonde (or non-blonde).

Marc Brunier

When French artist Marc Brunier saw this SPS post, he sent me the following images from his installation of "bait of fishing", lurees in silicone. He says, "There was approximately 400, and covered an exhibition space of 200m."






Digging around at his blog, with some help from Google in the translation, I found this post about his work, in which Brunier says, "attrap me is an installation made of a myriad of multicolored lures in my own way, lolita octopus, baby shrimp..."

At Bruier's site, I also discovered these delicious gems:

Kiss Me, which I call "The French On French Kissing".



Hot Dog Frites may not seem "SPS Sexy", but I really like it.



And papier peint à fleurs is apparently a copper print plate (I love print blocks and plates!)

Pat In Red Brought How Much Green?

Auctioned by Southeby's in Melbourne yesterday, lot #16, Richard Larter's Pat In Red.

From the catalogue:

In the present work raunchy images of Pat Larter sit flat on the frontal plane. Behind them shimmers a delicate pattern of coloured dots, the complimentary and contrasting yellows, greens and blues giving the red a singing intensity.

I find myself not noticing anything other than the black, black pubic hair.

I miss pubic hair in erotic works.

Additional details on the art work:

MEASUREMENTS

121.5 by 177cm

DESCRIPTION

Signed and dated Oct 19-0 ? lower right

Oil on board

Expected to sell for 18,000—25,000 AUD, no word yet on final sale price/

Dying For A Long Delayed Nude

I love everything about this piece; from the point of view & featured nipples, to the fact that it's drawn on tracing paper.

Drawing For A Long Delayed Nude, by Tom Wesselmann, will be up for auction at Sotheby's September 10th. Auction estimate, $10,000—15,000; so I will likely only get as close to it as this posting.

MEASUREMENTS

measurements
4 by 5 1/2 in.

alternate measurements
10.1 by 14 cm.

DESCRIPTION

signed in pencil; signed, titled, dated 1973 + 1975

ballpoint pen and colored pencil on tracing paper

Just Another Reason Why Warhol Was Weird

It occurs to me, as I look at this photo of Dolly Parton by Andy Warhol (up for auction at Sothebys), that Warhol didn't use the iconic breasts of women in his works.

High-Five Friday

1) In New Wives' Tales, Jackie Wullschlager reviews books on the lives of famous wives & lovers, including the kinky relationship between Simone de Beauvoir & Jean-Paul Sartre. (Get ready to put on your Amazon wish lists.)

2) Brenda's Babes won $20,000 for her pin up collection. (I didn't enter because I didn't want to video my home.) Via Dinosaurs & Robots.

3) Gracie Passette interviewed Shon Richards on XXBN's Cult of Gracie and it rocked! You can listen/download here.

4)The Things Women Go Through to Attract Men..., by Cheryl Saban.

5) The New York Times reviews the J, Paul Getty Museum show, Grecian Taste and Roman Spirit: The Society of Dilettanti, "a quirky, fascinating show" which "examines the culture of connoisseurship in a men’s club in 18th-century London, revealing the unlikely origins of both classical archaeology and the Greek Revival style." (Sometimes I hate living in the Midwest; I miss shows like this.)

You can participate in High-Five Fridays too.

A Bronzed Babe To Class Up The Joint

Also from the James D. Julia Auction's three day auction, August 26-28, 2008.

1228:

ALICE RIORDAN (American, 20th Century) THE TEMPTRESS. Multi-colored bronze sculpture shows a young woman lying on a naturalistic bed scantily clad. Her dress is a blueish/gray. Her skin is bright bronze and she has red flowers in her hair. She lies on a brown colored textured bed. Signed “Alice Riordan” and numbered “54/250” with a foundry mark of a conjoined initial. Mounted to a black base. SIZE: 10-1/2” h x 18” l x 12-1/2” w. CONDITION: Very good. 9-94409 (900-1,400)

Rita Hayworth Pastel

From the James D. Julia Auction's three day auction, August 26-28, 2008; item #3440:

HOWARD CONNOLLY (American, 1903-) “RITA HAYWORTH”. Large pastel portrait of Rita Hayworth dated “1942” and signed lower left. She is seen with a glamour gown with white ermine fur. Her broad smile and auburn hair are accented by the black background. Housed in a silver and gold painted wood frame with glass. SIZE: 40” x 30”. CONDITION: Very good. 9-94036 (1,400-1,800)

And So It Goes

Via Tom McMahon, Will Draw Anything For $2.



Why is it that I can't decide what to hire him to do for $2... It's not like it's a tat, or a hideous investment.

Bookmark.

Belated High-Five Friday

High-Five Friday is late due to a secret, clandestine meeting of FF. This is all I can say for now... But the high-fives are still due, so here we go:

1) Dutch Delftware Dildo, anyone? Combines the quaint and the cunt.

And I swear I had that bookmarked for a high-five before I discovered that...

2) Audacia Ray had posted about my Earl Kemp needlepoint. Thanks!

3) John Coulthart sent an update on Kafka's Porn Stash -- I could paraphrase him, but he says it so well:

We seem to have much ado about very little here. The latest teacup storm:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/15/franzkafka.germany

The pictures in question are mostly drawings as far as I can gather. Some of them rather well-known:

"a picture of a baby emerging from a sliced-open leg."

...which is one of Beardsley's Lucian illustrations:

http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/1038-A-Bizarre-Birth.html

Ah well.

4) The Harry Mohney's Erotic Heritage Museum may not be news to many of you, and this news story is older too, but I love this part too much not to high-five it:

It's important to preserve such collections, said Jerry Zientara, a librarian for the institute who also teaches "erotology" -- the study of the depiction of the acts of love and sex -- because they're part of our history.

"Erotic history is the same as any kind of history," he said. "It's just like art history, but the subject matter goes further. Because it's sexual, a lot of people aren't interested in preserving it. How often does someone's uncle die and when the Playboys are found, they go to the Dumpster?"

5) Lastly, the lovely Curvaceous Dee sent me a link to this wonderful erotic ivory chess set, by Russian Mammoth (image shown below). I thank her for the link; but would have preferred she'd have sent me the chess set. *wink*

Earl Kemp On... Canvas?

Chatter with Earl Kemp continues... If you missed earlier parts of the interview: Intro, on science fiction, on censorship and politics, on reading and writing, on Fandom. (Links added by SPS.)

SPS: Earl, I guess I have several questions regarding the needlepoint...


SPS: They are your works, correct? What started the needlepoint kick?

Earl: Betty Gilmore, in Guadalajara. She produced a coffee table book about the art, filled with many color examples. She taught me to do it to fill in down time. Rosie Grier, a football player, also helped because it was his thing.

SPS: "She taught me", as in personally, or via the book?

Earl: Betty taught me personally. I read his book.


SPS: And it seems to my eye, that Coke is, er, if not the Corporate Devil, than at least a symbol of something -- more than a carbonated beverage choice, at least. So what's the deal with you and Coke?


Earl: It's one of my favorites, especially as Cuba Libre.

SPS: OK, droll commentary doesn't play well here... Are you referring to the drink or the lie?

Earl: The drink, triple por favor....

SPS: The one I was particularly struck by (and covet dearly) is this one -- please do tell me more about it!



Earl: It was designed for me by Jack Bozzi, a big-time NYC artist, now dead. Among other things, secretly, he was also the male figure obsessive artist Adam. As Adam, Jack designed this for me and I then did the needlepoint following his outlines. It is signed EKJB incorporating both our initials.

Vintage BBW Burlseque Watercolor

From the James D. Julia Auction's three day auction, August 26-28, 2008; item #3508.

CHAIM GROSS (American, 1904-1991) THE FOUR DANCERS. Watercolor depicting four burlesque type dancers. Inscribed and signed bottom right and dated "1950". Housed in a modern ivy decorated gilt frame with triple matte. SIZE: Sight: 9-1/2" x 13-1/2". CONDITION: Very good. 9-94038 (800-1,200)

Cheeky Little Cherub Tickles Her Awake

Also from the James D. Julia Auction's three day auction, August 26-28, 2008; item #3638:

BENTON MURDOCH SPRUANCE (American, 1904-1967) "VENUS AWAKE". Fine & Looney 250, Edition of 35. Lithograph on paper scene shows a nude woman being tickled by a putti. A figure is seen in background with artist pallet painting. Pencil signed "Spruance 46". Pencil titled and "Ed 35". Hinge mounted in a white matte. SIZE: Image: 17-1/4" x 13-1/4". Paper: 23-3/4" x 18-3/4". CONDITION: Very good. 9-92853 (2,000-2,500)

The Philadelphia Print Shop has additional prints (non-nude) and a brief bio on the artist.

Caught In A Net Of Irony

Spotting the above photo by BartG had me searching through that folder again for similar images I had seen.


It's not just the seemingly strangeness of the fishnet being such a common prop throughout the years (I can only surmise such themes in nude art photography are the continuing exploration of the "catch a mermaid" fantasy), but the text itself which made these images memorable enough to warrant me lugging that box & folder out to the couch again for another sorting.

These few pages were torn from Figurette, Figure File For Artists, No.3; so along with the photos there is helpful text for the wanna-be artist -- text which legitimized and protected publications with nude women too. So the text, while you may wish to dismiss it in your quest to see more vintage naked boobies, is key here.

Figurette presents a handy, inexpensive guide to the anatomy and constructions of the female figure. The photographs are designed to aid and encourage the reader in the study of art and photography, being of special advantage to the amateur artist in enabling him to further his study of art through the medium of photography. Because it is impossible to draw, accurately, from memory, the artist is encouraged to work from the photographs. Both artist and photographer, in achieving success, must develop dexterity in depicting the human form. Figurette supplies invaluable, authentic copy on proportions, lighting, posing, composition and other facets of figure art as an aid in this comprehensive study.

On the flip side:

Twisting, turning, ever wending curves are the artistic result of the pose achieved in the study above. The netting used in both of these pictures illustrates the point that such props lose validity unless they serve to highlight contours or mood. In these cases they do neither. Photographs by Glamourarts.

In case you weren't reading for comprehension -- and I suspect that's quite a few here as well as the majority of original owners of Figurette magazine -- let me point out that the (at least) three photos, including the full page one inside the front cover, are published as examples of what not to do.

I would think such exploitative use of nudes as the "bad examples" would, if done often enough, have been enough to undermine the very "artistic guide status" Figurette boasted of and likely used to beat the censors.

However, censors themselves were likely to be distracted by the "twisting, turning, ever wending curves" in the photographs & so mistake the wording of the second line as a "to do". The last line (if read at all), the: "In these cases they do neither," became an irony lost.

To everyone but me.

Ruan Lingyu Shanghai Posters

YueFenPai or Shanghia Posters are Chinese posters from the 1920's, often used for advertising. This one by Hu Boxiang is called LakeLadies and features Ruan Lingyu (and a friend) relaxing beside a lake.



This next one, also with Ruan, is a British American Tobacco Company Advertising Poster.

Girl Washing Her Hair

Slip of a Girl (her design blog is here) alerted me to this piece to be auctioned at James D. Julia Auction's three day auction at the Samoset Resort (Rockland, Maine), August 26-28, 2008.

#1227:

HUGO ROBUS (American 1885-1964) "GIRL WASHING HER HAIR". The polished bronze statue in the form of a nude woman having both arms and hands at the nape of her neck bending over washing her hair. The bronze is in a c-shape with her back extended in the air. The bronze is in a bright finish and is inscribed "1976 Forum Gallery Hugo Robus 2/18" with what appears to be a foundry seal. The piece has a separate aluminum lined wood base which has a Forum Gallery label with title, artist, medium and date "1939" which may be the original casting date, with this being a later edition. SIZE: 8" h x 14" l. CONDITION: Some small pitting to woman's back, could possibly be polished out. Very good. 9-93767 (2,500-4,000)

More on Robus here; additional works here.

Momma Never Told Me There'd Be Nudes Like This

My momma recently gifted me this nude art piece -- she and 'everyone' knows that I collect such things.


Scrutiny of the signature was a bit difficult; but after trying Jean Vybow (a mistake others make) & Jean Vyboud, the latter was shown to be the artist of this nude figure print.

Prices seem very "robust" (from $200 to $315), but the details are sketchy on this etching... and the artist.

Little is published on the web about the artist. Other than knowing his full name, Jean Auguste Vyboud, and lifespan dates (1872-1944), it's a blank left to books not available in Google's book search preview and/or in other languages, leaving me rather clueless. (Hint Hint all of you knowledgeable in art...)

From what I can ascertain, Vyboud was an engraver & a printer of fine art prints. Seems more than odd then, that my piece (and others that I have seen) wouldn't credit the original artist...

Dates are speculative; this seller (very bottom of the page) says it's from the 1960's, and this seller claims the engraving is from the early 1900's. Prints can have multiple runs, but usually only if the artwork or artist is very popular. Even more so for quality prints.

Interestingly, my print is not only signed in pencil, but part of a numbered run (16/100, also in pencil). I wonder if this makes it older or newer, more valuable or less valuable...

Everyone, everything has its price; so I could be tempted to sell it.

In any case, mom's not getting it back. *wink*

(But I might give her a share of the wealth, if it came to that.)

Jive About

John Cebollero's Jive About: A Sketchbook 08 has an exclusive, never-before-published pin-up collaboration with Richard Corben -- and you can get signed copies of this limited edition, as well as have John create an original sketch on the back cover for you, at his website.

Jennifer Cody Epstein On Prostitute-Concubine-Post-Impressionist Pan Yuliang

A brief interview with Jennifer Cody Epstein, author of The Painter from Shanghai, a novel based upon the life of Chinese painter Pan Yuliang.

Pan Yuliang is a wonderful artist -- but one who is often discussed more for her struggle to become one (having been sold at the age of 14 into prostitution by her only surviving relative) and for her nude works (at a time when such works were scandalous).

I'm delighted to have Jennifer's insight here...

SPS: When/how did you first become aware of Pan Yuliang?

Jennifer: I was actually the Guggenheim with my husband and some relatives—roughly ten years ago. The exhibition—which was amazing--was on Modern Chinese Art, and there was just one image by Pan Yuliang on display. But it drew me over immediately; it was a typical Pan Yuliang in that it was very evocative of Matisse and Cezanne, and the bright, bold colors and distinctly Western setting (as compared to the huge propaganda-style images and much more subtle ink paintings around it) really stood out for me.

SPS: What was it that captured you & compelled you to write the book?

Jennifer: Upon seeing the picture, I went over to study it more closely. And when I read about Pan’s story (prostitute-concubine-Post-Impressionist icon; really?!) it just blew me away. I’d never heard of her before—but I couldn’t, at that moment, understand why---it struck me that everyone should know about her. I suppose writing the book was one way to try to understand her, and to try to imagine what making that sort of an extraordinary journey would be like.

SPS: How long did it take to create the book?

Jennifer: From inception to publication it was almost exactly ten years--so a long time! Granted, throughout that period I quite my job at NBC, finished an MFA at Columbia and also had my two daughters, so there were some side-trips.

SPS: Why write a novel, rather than a biography?

Jennifer: Mainly because I'd made the decision--after ten years in journalism--to try writing fiction, which I'd always wanted to do. But also because Pan's story ended up being one of those where I actually had to use creative license in order to get any sort of a complete sense of her. Even the art historians I spoke to confirmed that there is so little actually factually known about her (even the birthdate on her gravestone in Paris is generally agreed to be inaccurate) that in order to get a full sense of her life, one has to simply imagine.

SPS: You mention there is little documentation or biographical information about her... What do you think that is due to? A lack of respect for her, her art? Did her popularity increase after her death, when it was "too late" for much information? Or was it a general lack of respect for women in general? Or just a problem in general of artists from that time? Something else?

Jennifer: I think the lack of documentation was in part a combination of all these factors. But I also think that Pan herself kept a pretty tight grip on her story and was very careful about the versions of it she allowed out. This isn't surprising, given how wildly controversial both her work and her history were, and also given the fact that people tended to pay more attention to the latter than the former.

SPS: Have you seen Hua hun, and if so, what are your thoughts on the film?

Jennifer: I have. I actually knew about the film fairly early into my research, but held off watching it until I was well grounded in my own book and characters---I didn't want to risk being overly influenced by it. think I finally sat through it after I'd already finished with Shanghai in my book and was moving on to Paris. I certainly appreciated Hua Hun for its beauty--it was very well-done, and I loved the intense aestheticism of it visually. But I did feel that--like the biography it's based on--the movie portrayed Pan Yuliang as somewhat less of a self-determined woman and artist than I came to see her as. The general sense I got from watching it was that she was more or less shaped by the actions of the men around her; e.g., rescued despite herself from the brothel, guided into art and school by her husband, etc. I sensed such a strength of character and will in her paintings, though, that I really wanted to give her more of a role in her evolution as an artist.

It's been noted to me, incidentally, that some readers think i made her too strong--they don't find her particularly likeable. But my sense is (both from my own musings and from what I've heard) that she wasn't an easy person in real life to either know or to like--so I suppose in some ways that just makes me hope that I got something right!

SPS: Did she have any children?

Jennifer: She did not. The biographical info points to at least one pregnancy but (as I write [in the book]) that was terminated. She did adopt her husband's son, however; he's still alive I believe, in Anhui province.

SPS: If you could say in one sentence (of what took a decade to create) -- what you think is the sum of the book... I guess that would be two sentences --

Jennifer: The sum, for me, is really the boundless creativity and ingenuity of the human spirit (though I hope that doesn't make people gag!). The truth is, Pan Yuliang was pretty much damned from the start by so many factors--her gender, her class, her country of origin; the fact that her parents died and her uncle was an opium addict; the fact that she was sold into a brothel. It's a set of circumstances that most women would simply not have survived. And yet thanks to her resilience, talent and the sheer bravery she displayed in painting what she wanted, regardless of cost, she has left other women and artists this extraordinary example and legacy. (I'm sorry, that's four sentences and a lot of semicolons!)

SPS: That's OK -- it took me how many sentence fragments just to get near a question. *wink* Do you have a "one sentence bit" of what you hope the reader walks away with from The Painter From Shanghai?

Jennifer: That even in the most apparently dire of circumstances you still have the power to shape your own dreams, goals, life.

SPS: And, in one sentence, what did you walk away from the experience with?

Jennifer: The thrill of having had Pan Yuliang and China as a job for the past decade (how lucky is that!?), and a renewed faith in myself for actually having published a historical novel with family and sanity (at least somewhat) intact!

Thanks, Jennifer; I can't wait to read it!

You can read more on Jennifer's process with the book here; and catch a live interview with the author on XXBN's Cult of Gracie, tonight (Wednesday, July 16th) at 9 P.M. (central).

Call in questions and comments are welcome at 1 (646) 200-3136. (And rumor has it that a copy of The Painter from Shanghai will be given away to live callers...)

If you miss the show, you can listen to the archived show (or download it) here.


See also:

The Nude in the Art of Pan Yuliang, by Elsa Favreau.

A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang: Capital Museum in Beijing Exhibit

See more of Pan Yulian's works here.

"She Really Gets Excited When Someone Calls."

Jim's lucky enough to own a risqué Ma Belle phone by Bob Ebers. He left a few tidbits of info in the comments on that post, and was kind enough to send along the following with photos of his cool phone:

The handset was meant to be dark sunglasses. The nipples still light up when the phone rings. She really gets excited when someone calls.

You can tell mine is a later model than the one in the blog post because of the flush recessed dial. Mine is numbered 375 of 400.

Soon after 1975, Bob stopped making these phones. He considered himself an artist, and even though these phones were profitable, it was no longer a creative outlet.

Thanks, Jim; and if you should ever tire of her... Think of me *wink*

PS For some reason Blogger isn't showing the flashing image -- you can see it here.

It's OK To Admit You Like Klimt; I Do

To coincide with Tate Liverpool's exhibition Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life in Vienna 1900, Tate Etc. brings together Herbert Lachmayer, a cultural historian and founder/director of Da Ponte Institute in Vienna, and Alfred Weidinger, a Klimt specialist, "to debate how the man who remains one of the world’s most popular modern artists took voyeurism to new heights".

Bits from that exchange...

Alfred Weidinger:

The Pre-Raphaelite artists, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, were a big influence on Klimt’s brother Ernst. When Ernst died Klimt finished his brother’s Pre-Raphaelite-inspired work. During his long depression he became very interested in these artists, and then painted what is for me the most important picture he did at this time – Portrait of Sonja Knips from 1898. Moll saw this Pre-Raphaelite influence and how Klimt could work with it to create a very particular Viennese art.

Herbert Lachmayer:

Yes, it is important to know that Viennese artists were able to avoid copying the melancholy of the Pre-Raphaelites because of their sense of irony and ambiguity. Depression was the most feared danger for a creative artist – ironical melancholy was the Viennese solution. In Klimt’s case, he transformed the rather boring aspects of the Pre-Raphaelites and injected “pornosophic fantasies” into his work. By pornosophic, I mean the way in which he presented his idea of erotic obsession as a life-long fetishistic love for the porno-details of the female body. Like Egon Schiele, he has been stigmatised as a pornographic artist, but in my understanding his erotic obsession was a pornosophia, just as philosophy is defined as a “love for wisdom”. Using the term “pornographic” regarding Klimt’s oeuvre reveals the petit bourgeois mentality of the person using it. He was a master of voyeuristic erotic stimulation and therefore produced his pornosophic fantasies in the head of the client – maybe encouraging him in an elegant way to have better sex at least. Even the way Klimt dressed was part of a “staging” of stimulation. In his studio he wore a long working dress – resembling a Moroccan jellaba – but he was completely naked underneath. He was a highly auto-erotic exhibitionist, using the ritual of professional distance from the model as a tool of auto-stimulating his erotic fantasies.

This next photo comes from the Tate article, but is for illustrative purposes of the models; it bears this notation: Anonymous photograph of a dancer taken at the studio of Madame d'Ora (Dora Philippine Kallmus) in Vienna (1923). Gelatin silver print © Ullstein bild - IMAGNO

ALFRED WEIDINGER We must not forget that Klimt had been used to working with nude models for a long time. Not only at art school, where they did nude studies every day, but also with his colleagues at the Künstlercompagnie. So he had fifteen or twenty years’ practice, and was fully sensitised to the female body and spirit. For me, it was very interesting to realise, in doing my research, that whereas most of the female figures featured in the Künstlercompagnie ceilings are clothed, in the studies they are all nude. You will not find many drawings where the models are dressed. He had to know what happened with the body, and then he dressed it.

HERBERT LACHMAYER So Klimt’s artistic production was almost like a drug – painting the nude increased the voyeuristic appeal.

ALFRED WEIDINGER In this respect the Beethoven Frieze became his masterwork, because it was the fulfillment of everything that he wanted to do at this time in 1902. The 14th Vienna Secessionist exhibition was designed to celebrate the life and philosophy of Beethoven with the theme based on Richard Wagner’s interpretation of the 9th Symphony, and each Secession artist contributed to it. Klimt’s idea was to do a 30ft fresco. You have to wonder why was he doing a fresco – and with such huge dimensions? It was unheard of to be creating such a piece in Europe, for a show that was going to be on for only two months.

HERBERT LACHMAYER It was like a Hollywood production…

ALFRED WEIDINGER Or like a show in Las Vegas. It really was a grand act. In the frieze Klimt knew he could more or less fulfil his wishes. He had the power to do something on this scale, and Moll gave him that power. The Beethoven Frieze didn’t cause a scandal, though. Of course there were always art critics who wrote bad reviews of Klimt, but there were some who wrote good ones. He and the Secession artists knew they needed a reason to put images of nude women on the wall, and in Beethoven they found it.

ALFRED WEIDINGER Another difference is that Klimt uses all kinds of women in his frieze – young girls, old girls, awful women, beautiful women, fat women, thin women. The whole world of women is in the Beethoven Frieze. There are also a lot of penises in the painting, which, because of the distance from the floor level, many people miss. I was there a few weeks ago because we had to do some restoration work and when you are level with it, there they are – lots of penises. He painted them as ornament, but this was also a very brave and risky thing to do. He was gambling with the visitors – he was having fun with them. It is important to know that side of him.

HERBERT LACHMAYER In this respect he was a professional voyeur and knew, of course, what unconscious effects his images would evoke in the minds of his male audience. Klimt had his own erotic theatre in his studio at home.

The whole article is worth reading in it's entirety; so do so.

For more on Gustav Klimt & his works, see:

The Kiss: Klimt's painting takes me on a journey of self-discovery

Bedazzled: the great and sometimes scandalous artist Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt at Tate Liverpool: If it's Klimt's gleaming beauties you're after you won't find many at Tate Liverpool. But the new show has its own riches

Gustav Klimt: is his art worth £135m?

High-Five Fridays #24

High-Five Fridays is still on hiatus; but I'm still playing.

1) Book collectors will enjoy this tantalizing review of Books: A Memoir, by Larry McMurtry. Here's a snippet:

A purpose of this memoir, Mr. McMurtry writes, is to “raise ghosts” of booksellers past, in the same way that Booked Up has become an “anthology” of their wares. In 1950, when Fourth Avenue was bookstore row, Manhattan had 175 bookstores. The online business that replaced them, Mr. McMurtry laments, is precise and efficient but lacks the human contact and serendipity of poring through shelves of dust in search of treasure.

2) An interview with David Farley, who wants to expose you to Napoleon's penis.

3) The debate on "the sensuality of children" continues in the Australian art world: one side, the other. Personally, I think concerned people need to take a real look at the definition of "sensual" and discover that it's not necessarily erotic; but I am glad to see this covered as a conversation.

4) The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society announced plans to open a new exhibit in the Castro district later this year -- if it can raise enough money. (Hint Hint) Kudos to Out in America for giving it press; a hand slap for not including an actual link to the historical society.

5) Thanks to Mark at Dinosaurs & Robots for noticing what goes on here.

Vintage Paint By Number Is A Bust

I don't see too many of these "exotic" (aka "non-white") nude paint by numbers.



Too bad she's a statuary bust and not a real person.

From Flickr.

Dulac's Dido Uh-Oh

Among Sotheby's English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations auction in London on July 17th, is an original pencil and watercolour drawing on silk by Edmund Dulac titled, Follies That Destroyed Famous Queens: Dido.


From the auction catalog:

Originally commissioned in 1934 as part of Dulac's series 'Follies that Destroyed Famous Queens' for the cover of the periodical American Weekly, this illustration was abandoned. It has been suggested that Dulac redrew the picture after deciding that the domed buildings in the background should have chimneys. The final published version also included other additions (an earring for Dido, for example). Of Dulac's final version, Colin White has written 'Dido's agonized yearning as she leans against a zebra skin, itself a most skilful piece of painting, looking down on the departing Æneas far below, is masterly' (Colin White, Edmund Dulac, London, 1976, p.161)

I dare say this was rejected not because buildings lacked chimneys, but because Dido was lacking nipple.


But then many men worry much about chimneys & other things upright, and less about a woman's nipples.

If You Paint One, You Can Paint Them All

My growing fascination with paint by numbers is largely due to the nudes. The popularity & repetitive nature pf PBNs seems to disprove the old, "If you've seen one, you've seen them all."

At CQ, Deanna gives a nifty history of Craft Master paint by numbers and, if you will, the founding fathers of the form. It's a very interesting read; and I suggest that you do as there may be a quiz. Or, at the very least, a very lengthy post -- or two, or more -- from me on the subject in the very near future.

Smarty-pant-smut-mongers will read ahead to stay at the head of the class.

The vintage nude PBN shown here is Craft Master Studio Nude "Jennifer" (1970). It has not been painted, save for a few attempted strokes, offering you the chance to paint your own art nude.

The Black & White Of Silhouettes

From this 1953 dry cleaning booklet, the origins of the word silhouette:

Time was that silhouette was a naughty word -- which only goes to prove that we live in a changing world. France, in 1759, had a comptroller general whose name was "Monsieur Silhouette." He introduced a number of taxes so odious that the mere mention of his name in polite society could mean pistols at dawn. Just how this epithet gradually shed its shady meaning and came to connote the outline of an object is lost in the pages of history. We chose the name SILHOUETTE for our magazine as a compliment to you... your clothes, your personality, and the home that is a gracious setting for the special beauty that is yours alone.

Curious myself, I did a little research.

From Silhouette-Man:

The art of silhouette cutting originated in Europe in the early 1700's. Prior to the French revolution, silhouettists were hired as an amusement for the royal class. The featured artist would attend the many extravagant balls and cut out the distinguished profiles of the Lords and Ladies capturing the latest fashions and elaborate wigs.

While the aristocrats were having their silhouettes cut out and eating like kings much of Europe was starving, especially in France. In the 1760's the Finance Minister of France, Etienne de Silhouette, had crippled the French people with his merciless tax polices. Oblivious to his people's plight, Etienne was much more interested in his hobby of cutting out paper profiles, the latest fad. Etienne de Silhouette was so despised by the people of France that in protest the peasant s wore only black mimicking his black paper cutouts. The saying went all over France,"We are dressing a la Silhouette. We are shadows, too poor to wear color. We are Silhouettes!" To this very day the black profile cutouts are called silhouettes. Thankfully, the negative connotation no longer remains.

However, artists like Kara Walker are resurrecting the art, using it to explore negative issues such as racism and feminism.

In this PBS interview, Walker said:

“I was looking at racist paraphernalia, iconography, and then at these accurate versions of middle-class Americans. I began to associate the silhouette itself, the cutting, with a form of blackface minstrelsy. Here we have these mainly white sitters or a few slaves who were documented in silhouette—but for the most part white sitters whom I identify as middle class because upper class would require a full-fledged oil portrait and that’s what I had already ruled out for myself…’No oil painting here, not going to ape the master that way.’”

“I always think about this work, this history, in terms of the body. And in terms of this act of excavating that’s been such a current and recurring theme, particularly in the histories of feminist artists, feminist writers, African-American people of color, investigating and eviscerating this body of collective experience…sometimes to the point of leaving nothing intact. I entered into this project, this idea of being a black woman artist, from the perspective of a person who has been presented with a pre-dissected body to work from. A pre-dissected body of information.”

Kara Walker's Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart (1994) from The New York Times.

Other image credits: Kara Walker silhouette via The Whitney.

More on Etienne de Silhouette at Wikipedia.

Another Nude Paint By Number

A horrible listing for an adorable vintage paint by number:

Open for biding is 1 outlawed paint by number nude painting of a german women.

The painting is dated and signed.This picture was outlawed as the company went to all other painting seens accept nude paintings.

The painting is in a frame under glass in excellent condition with a lovely petina.

The painting aged nicely and my photo's do not do this pasintings petina justice.

You wil not see any of these on ebay as they were made for a very short time.

Please look on ebay in past or present auction and you will not see a paint by number painting such as this.

For collectors of paint by number paintings this is a once in a lifetime chance to own a rare collectable such as this outlawed paint by number nude German women.

This paintings value will increase year by year as the few that have been made are being held by art collectors who are not selling these.I am selling the painting as is,(in excellect condition) this was made in the year of 1957 and was painted in 1959.

Grammar & spelling errors aside, I don't know how anyone with a feedback rating of 43 can boast something is rare with the "proof" that you'll not find another like it in their listings.

Rarity as far as "being pulled" is inconclusive at best. No company is listed, so I cannot research catalogs, and without the painting's number it would be a tough feat as most paint by number nudes were sold by number, without visual representation.

But she is a cutie, regardless.

A Woman Needs A Man Like A Fish Needs A Bicycle; But What About Mermaids?

sirena needs a gun like a mermaid needs a tricycle by anna bronwyn murphy, from her PULPtart and lowbrow art Etsy shop.

Silver Lady Uncovered

Cruising the Collectors' Quest community I found "Silver lady" from Metal art by Barry2952:

This sculpture by Raymond Parmenter is solid silver. It was commissioned by the infamous Hunt brother who tried to corner the silver market. They made a lot of people a lot of money and had 50 of these made as gifts for their largest investors. The woman I acquired it from left it covered for 20 years so her grandson wouldn't see the nudity. I've let it patina to a natural shade.

Vagina Is For Lovers

Spotting Vagina Is For Lovers by VictoreNYC was amusing, but, oh! the description:

James Victore is a dinner plate pirate. Spontaneously hijacking unsuspecting porcelain with a fat black paint pen, he marks his bounty with drawings of skulls and birds and fish (dead ones). And
he’s not above the occasional slogan, either. “Vagina is for lovers,” anybody? What drives a a graphic designer / illustrator / raconteur with a widely recognized body of work to start tagging plates in public? What else? “I love the look and feel of a marker on the off-white plate surface, but I used to make them to meet girls.” He also used his plate drawings to entertain friends and waiters. Or should that be buy off waiters? “I thought they would be mad if they caught me, but they usually wanted one.”

Man Ray Auction Day

Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky) works are up for auction on July 3rd, in Paris via Sothebys. Here are a few of the offerings...

Nudes & Sphere, with an estimate of 7,000—10,000 EUR:

signed 'MR' and dated '40' (lower left), ink and wash on paper.

35,2 x 25,4 cm; 13 7/8 x 10 in.

Executed in 1940, probably prior to the artist's departure from Paris to settle in Hollywood as a refugee in his homeland, this drawing and a related oil of the same year entitled Disillusion, are reference to the turmoil and conflict of a war in Europe as events unfolded and Man Ray realised he had to flee. The composition portrays confusion and uncertainty with three nudes clutching a sphere representing the planet in its state of unrest.

Also up for auction is Man Ray's Seated Nude, with an estimate of 8,000—12,000 EUR:

signed 'Man Ray' and dated '1941' (lower right), gouache and brush and ink on paper. Executed in 1941.

35,5 x 25 cm; 13 7/8 x 9 7/8 in.

This is a gouache study of Juliet Browner, who was to become Man Ray's companion and later his wife in 1946. She was a professional dancer who had trained under Martha Graham in the 1930's in New York.

More information on Juliet (Browner) Man Ray is here; cemetery photos here.


Perhaps my favorite, Les Mains Libres bronzes: ten bronzes created in 1971 from Man Ray drawings for a collection of Paul Eluard poems published as Les Mains Libres in 1937.As Grace Glueck wrote in The New York Times in '97 the bronzes include:

...an ''imaginary portrait'' of the Marquis de Sade in bronze (1971).

To the Surrealists, de Sade (1740-1814), the recorder of kinky sex and the writer of antireligious tracts, was a revered iconoclast. No likeness of him existed, and Man Ray felt free to create several. The bronze bust is a striking image that resembles at once Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, and Benjamin Franklin.

Its fat face and shoulders are scored with an irregular grid that simulates the stone facades of the institutions, especially the Bastille, where de Sade spent years imprisoned for scandalous behavior. It's not inappropriate that the artist devoted this much attention to de Sade, because, as the writer Arturo Schwarz notes in his book on Man Ray, a streak of sadism runs through his work.

Some drawings on view were prompted by Man Ray's dreams. They, in turn, inspired poems by the French Surrealist Paul Eluard. The poems and drawings were paired in the book ''Les Mains Libres'' (1937). A hand creeping around the side of a mountain, a naked couple sheltered by a giant rose, a bridge with a nude sprawled across its top: these are better examples of Surrealist fancy than of the draftsman's art. Today they have a hothouse charm that heightens their appeal.

The lot of bronzes has an estimate of 50,000—70,000 EUR; so I can show them to you knowing that I'll not be bidding against you -- nor any one else. Sadly, I'll be doing no bidding at this auction at all.

Sea Of Parted Legs

One Leg Leads to Another is a gallery of graphics using the view through a person's parted legs -- via Thingsville, US.

Mermaids

In belated honor of the Coney Island Mermaid parade -- and my continuing love affair with mermaids...


Via Collectors' Quest.



From an Etsy shop, via iKonic Vintage.

And don't forget to see the merman, complete with genitalia, at Gloria Brame's!

Stone You Might Like To Bone

Prehistoric nudes, via Unscathed Corpse.

Erotic Parodies By Massey

I am completely charmed by these funny & naughty nostalgic works by Ralph Massey. The Humpty Dumpty & Tinkerbell piece is cute, but it's the risque whimsy of Punch & Judy that has me wishing that you'll send money.



Both pieces are poly-resin, c. 1980, & available at Eroticrarities.

The Rising Sun

John Coulthart reminds us that Audrey Munson wasn't the only one sculpted in the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition -- there were male figures too.

Like Adolph Alexander Weinman's stunning The Rising Sun:



I must say that he would need to be named "Rising Sun" and not "Rising Son" as his genitalia has been "leafed" to the imagination.

Eroticon: Erotic Art from Behind Bars

Found at Gloria Brame's blog, information on the first annual Eroticon, a gallery viewing and auction of 40 works of erotic art created by imprisoned men and women from across America.

The event is intended as a fundraiser as well as an event to raise awareness about issues of incarceration, rehabilitation, sexual freedom and sexual expression.

Proceeds benefit both the sponsoring organizations, The Woodhull Freedom Foundation and Prisons Foundation, and the artists directly.

Eroticon: Erotic Art from Behind Bars

WHEN: Friday, June 20, 2008

WHERE: Prisons Art Gallery
1600 K Street, NW; Suite 501; Washington DC

SCHEDULE: Gallery Viewing: 6-7pm; Art Auction 7-8pm

ADMISSION: $10 at the door

** wine and food will be served **

Event sponsored by Busboys and Poets

More information can be found here.

Poly-Nude, S'il Vous Plaît

Lots #770 and #771, large nude poly-resin sculptures by Massey, were passed; you may wish to contact auctioneers Ivey-Selkirk for more information.

RALPH A. MASSEY, AMERICAN (B. 1938) ULTRA VIOLET, seated nude figure, painted fiberglass, signed with monogram on hand.
31 x 51 inches
Accompanied by a note from Ultra Violet (Isabelle Dufresne, socialite of Andy Warhol fame).

RALPH A. MASSEY, AMERICAN (B. 1938) Nude Leaning Male, painted fiberglass, signed with monogram on foot.
53 inches
Accompanied by a note from Ultra Violet (Isabelle Dufresne, socialite of Andy Warhol fame).

More on Isabelle Dufresne/Ultra Violet here.

Another Ralph Massey polychromed polyester resin sculpture, possibly a satire of curator Walter Hopps.

Audrey Munson: Star (Crossed) Maiden

In My Fascination with Nudies: Collecting Nude Art, Val mentions Alexander Stirling Calder's sculpture, Star Maiden, created for the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition and up for auction June 21st by Michaan’s Auctions by the Bay.

Audrey Marie Munson was the 15 year old model for the piece.

It is said that she was discovered by chance in New York City by Ralph Draper, a professional photographer who passed Munson and her (divorced) mother walking down the street. Draper is said to have told mom that her daughter's face is one he longed to photograph. She consented and didn't seem to mind that her daughter would be nude.



Draper took many photographs, some of which he showed to his artist friend, Isidore Konti.

Quickly Munson becomes a society darling and model of choice for artistic nudes by all the big-name sculptors and painters, posing for hundreds of works that still adorn public buildings and museums.



As the "the girl with the ideal figure" Munson was the model for 94 versions of Star Maiden & other sculptures at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition -- said to be 75% of all the female-figure works at the Exposition. From BikiniScience.com:

Munson is chosen to be the featured model for sculptures which tell the story of the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Her nude body rides atop an oxcart (1) , sits atop a fountain (2), and bears water in angelic form (3). She wears a barebreasted halter as she reclines on a phallic fish (4), wears a diaphanous and revealing costume as the "Star Girl" (5), and bares her breasts and pubis as an angel (6).

Likely as a result of her err, exposure in California at the expo, Munson moved to California and got a contract with the American Film Company.

Her first project was as an actress on a special-project basis with Thanhouser. The five-reel film was George Foster Platt's Inspiration (1915), the story of (surprise!) a sculptor's model, in which "the girl with the ideal figure" poses nude in classic artwork poses. (The film was reissued by the Arrow Film Corporation in 1918 as The Perfect Model).



Inspiration is often credited as the first time that a woman appeared fully nude on film. I think it is more accurate to say that this is the first time a mainstream or legitimate full-feature film had the leading actress go completely nude, without body stocking, and that while Munson was the lead, she was not yet a "film star" (still leaving Kellerman her title of first star to go nude in a feature film).


There was, of course, controversy about Inspiration and its nudity, picketing and the like, but censors were reluctant to ban the film, fearing they would then also have to ban Renaissance art & close museums as such art was featured in the film.

The film was big at the box office, and a year later she would star in Rea Burger's 7-reel silent film, Purity (1916), in a dual role as a spirit figure and as (yet another) country-girl turned nude artist's model. From The New York Times:

Just in case there was any doubt that this American Film Company production was meant to be an allegory, the authors helpfully bestowed upon the characters such names as Purity, Virtue, Evil, Luston Black and Judith Lure! Cast in the dual role of Virtue and Purity, Audrey Munson enjoys the attentions of poet Thornton Darcy (Nigel de Brulier) and Claude Lamarque (Alfred Hollingsworth). But watch out for that no-good snake Luston Black (William A. Carroll) and his scheming mistress Judith Lure (Eugenie Forde). "To the Pure, All Things Are Pure" read one of the film's subtitles. Maybe so, but any film that banked so heavily on the undraped beauty of leading lady Audrey Munson) could not have helped but plant a few impure thoughts in the minds of its male spectators.

It was in this year, 1916, that Munson is said to appear on US coins. Having been Adolph Alexander Weinman's model, she appears on dimes minted from 1916-1945 called the Winged Liberty Head dime but often (mistakenly) called the "Mercury" dime (kindly note the discrepancy on the model information) as well as the Walking Liberty half-dollar (1916-1947).



In 1918, Munson appeared in The Girl O' Dreams:

After the death of his young wife, Phillip Fletcher, a millionaire and sculptor, makes his home on an uncharted desert island. Harry LeRoy, a cad who is courting the widow Mrs. Hansen, desires the widow's convent-bred daughter Norma and persuades mother and daughter to accompany him on a sea cruise. When the ship catches fire, Norma, abandoned by LeRoy and her mother in the confusion, is washed ashore on Phillip's island. Phillip clothes and shelters Norma, whose mind has become childlike from shock, and uses her as a model for his sculptures. Through Phillip's friend Jack, a photo of one of the sculptures travels to America, where LeRoy sees it and subsequently finds his way to Phillip's island. LeRoy tries to rape Norma, and in the ensuing struggle LeRoy is killed and Norma recovers her adult personality. Phillip, who is in love with Norma, sorrowfully returns her to the United States, but Norma does not board the boat, and Phillip, finding her posing as one of his statues when he returns to his hut, finally declares his love.

Talk about your typecasting.

While the films were box office successes, the reviews were mixed, and one can only imagine how quickly the novelty of the nude model turned actress whose only real roles were that of nude models lost its lust-her.

Munson returned to New York and her mother.

In 1919, back in New York, she and her mother lived in a boarding house owned by Dr. Walter Wilkins. Wilkins fell in love with her, murdering his wife, Julia, with a hammer so he could be available to marry Munson. By the time of the murder, Munson and her mother had left for Canada under the "advice" of Mrs. Wilkins and had nothing to do with the murder, but the police still wanted to question them, resulting in a nationwide hunt for them, with headlines announcing, "Syracuse Model wanted in N.Y.C. Tragedy". When finally questioned in Toronto, the police were satisfied & the women left to return to New York. (Wilkins himself was tried, found guilty, and sentenced; but he hung himself in his prison cell before he could meet the electric chair.)

The Beaux-Arts construction boom was over, fickle Hollywood fame had left, and the dark cloud of scandal hung about her, ending both her modeling & acting careers. While some would say that Munson was forgotten, she did continue to work in public view -- not just present in sculpture and art, but as a columnist.


In the 1920s, she wrote a series of 20 articles for American Weekly, a Sunday insert in The New York American (originally the New York Journal, renamed in 1901), one of the preceding publications merged to form the New York Journal-American, which served as the flagship of William Randolph Hearst's communications empire from 1895 to 1966.

From a NY Times article:

In them she criticized society's lack of respect for models and challenged the prevailing standards of decency and beauty. "All girls cannot be perfect 36s, with bodies of mystic warmth and plastic marble effect, colored with rose and a dash of flame," she wrote. "Of course not."

And in at least one article, Munson wrote of "a man prominent in the theatrical world" (she never named names) who had decided to ruin her career after she resisted his advances.

Munson made one more film, Heedless Moths, which she is credited with writing as well as performing in. Again from the New York Times:

The story involves an incident in the life of notorious early 20th century nude model Audrey Munson. Munson herself appears in various stages of undress, but she doesn't actually play herself -- that's left to Jane Thomas. According to the picture, Munson is supporting herself and her mother through her modeling, but she is actually a good girl -- when a painter makes a play for her, she walks out. She is brought to a celebrated sculptor (Holmes E. Herbert), who is inspired by her beauty and asks her to pose nude for a statue. The sculptor's wife (Hedda Hopper) becomes jealous of all the attention her husband is giving his art and has an affair with the painter. The painter dumps his latest model/mistress for the wife, and the rejected girl swears revenge. She writes a letter to the sculptor informing him that his wife is having dinner with the painter. Munson rushes to take the wife's place at the table and pretends to be drunk when the sculptor shows up. He's so disgusted that he destroys the statue he made of her. Eventually Munson orchestrates a reconciliation between the sculptor and his wife.

It wasn't enough to resurrect a film career -- and enough became enough for Audrey Munson.



After failing to find "the perfect man" in a widely publicized search for a husband in 1922, on the afternoon of May 27, 1922, at her home in Mexico, New York, Audrey Munson swallowed a solution of bichloride of mercury.

From the article that ran May 28th of that year, some interesting notes:

Miss Munson still refuses to disclose the contents of the telegram she received shortly before she tried to take her life. It is thought it may have come from Joseph J. Stevenson, of Ann Arbor, Mich., to whom she said was engaged.

...It became known today that since the announcement of her engagement to Mr. Stevenson, Miss Munson has been calling herself Baroness Audrey Merl Munson-Monson, though the derivation of the title is as much a mystery as her effort to commit suicide.

...Some doubt was expressed in Mexico today as the the authenticity of the telegram.

...An extensive search in Ann Arbor for Joseph J Stevenson, reported engaged to Audrey Munson, has failed to reveal any trace of him. So far as can be learned, no man by that name ever lived here.

She was saved from the suicide attempt, but not really saved at all... On June 8th, 1931, she was admitted to the St. Lawrence State Hospital for the Insane, in nearby Ogdensburg. She was just 40 years old.



To the world she was gone and forgotten.

Which was rather as Munson feared, I suppose, as she wrote this in one of her columns in 1921:

What becomes of the artists’ models? I am wondering if many of my readers have not stood before a masterpiece of lovely sculpture or a remarkable painting of a young girl, her very abandonment of draperies accentuating rather than diminishing her modesty and purity, and asked themselves the question, "Where is she now, this model who was so beautiful?"

Just a few wondered about her... Like Barry Popik (links added by SPS):

So I said how about this, I've got another story, there's this woman named Audrey Munson, and she's on top of this building as "Civic Fame," and we just gilted her statues at great expense, but no one knows who she is, or if she's alive or dead...

"Rescuing a Heroine From the Clutches of Obscurity" appeared in the New York Times, city section, April 14, 1996. It was the only article published on Audrey Munson since 1926, in 70 years. The article mentioned, in passing, that I'd also solved "the Big Apple."

I donated my papers and a copy of the article to the National Sculpture Society. I got a call from a book publisher, and I sent copies of all the papers there as well. One woman, a photographer, called and said she was interested in a photo book about Miss Munson. She had contacted me through the Times. I gave her all my papers and met her and another woman, a writer. I told them that I didn't have any book plans at the moment—I was busy with my father and mother dying, and a full time job, and this Big Apple Boulevard/Corner catastrophe. However, if they were interested, they should contact anyone upstate in her home town of Mexico, NY named "Munson." I never heard from the two women again.

"That Metropolitan Woman" was a book review in the New York Times of October 3,1999. Accompanying the review was a photo of a sculpture identified as Daniel Chester French's "Brooklyn" that was really "Manhattan." The book was American Venus. The authors had gone upstate and had found a treasure trove of Audrey Munson material. Audrey had been living in a mental institution for almost seventy years, until her death in 1996 at age 105. The authors, the review stated, "have made an extraordinary effort to reclaim long-forgotten facts, newspaper clippings and vintage photographs of a once -celebrated life." I wrote a letter to the editor of the book review that, just three years before, in the very same newspaper—yeah, my letter wasn't published.

The book didn't even give me a single credit.

From that article, Rescuing a Heroine From the Clutches of Obscurity:

But such efforts seem incidental in comparison with Mr. Popick's obsession with Miss Munson, a woman he calls "more popular than Cindy Crawford but much uglier." A raven-haired native of Mexico, N.Y., near Syracuse, she starred in a handful of plays and silent movies, but they generally received dismissive reviews. It was her modeling career that made sculptors like Daniel Chester French vie for her services and rave over the dimples in her back.

Mr. Popick might well empathize with her history. He has written numerous plays, short stories and research papers. To date, however, Mr. Popick's efforts have received almost as much scorn as Miss Munson.

Say what you may about Popik, he's worked to get the U. S. Postal Service to issue an Audrey Munson stamp, honoring America's greatest model.

Audrey Munson died February 20, 1996, at age 105, nearly alone &, in something that's past tolerable in irony, in an unmarked grave. Says Joe Schumacher of the blog Audrey Munson: model, muse, forgotten, remembered:

She had been committed to the Ogdensburg Psychiatric Institution in 1931 for what now are largely treatable diseases of depression and schizophrenia. Her parents divorced when Audrey was very young. After her parents died (Edgar is her father) she had no visitors for several decades before being rediscovered by a niece. Audrey Munson is buried in an unmarked grave in her father's plot in the New Haven, NY cemetery.

The Audrey Munson Fund is "collecting funds to finance a gravestone for Munson, who though deceased for more than ten years still doesn’t have one."

In total, Munson starred in four silent films; but only one print of Purity has survived (said to be in an archive in France). But if you want to see her, all you have to do is look her up -- and then, most likely, look up to gaze upon the face and form that has launched a thousand artworks.


Even after her lifetime.

For more on Audrey Munson, see:

Andrea Geyer’s book, Queen of the Artists’ Studios.

PS While the article on Popik says that Munson was in plays, I wonder if Wiki should be linking to this Audrey Munson at the Internet Broadway Database -- if this is the same Munson, she would have been on the stage at 9 years of age. (Then again, I never know what the hell Wiki's going on at Wiki.)

However, it is said that Munson did inspire a bit in Broadway's Oh, Lady, Lady.

Art Is Your Breast Defense

Slip of a Girl's friend, artist Charlene Lanzel, has her painted bust artwork, the World Famous *BOB*, featured in the Breast Defense: Glamour Girls for Early Detection show & was interviewed in the Las Vegas Sun about the exhibit.



The exhibit is a collection of one-of-a-kind plaster molds cast from the busts of such legendary burlesque icons as Tura Satana (Miss Japan Beautiful, Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!), shown below.



Breast Defense, presented by the Keep a Breast Foundation & the Burlesque Hall of Fame, is a part of this weekend's Exotic World Weekend, but if you can't make it to Vegas this weekend, the casts will be on display at Downtown Las Vegas' The Fallout Gallery until June 28, 2008.

And then the casts will be auctioned on eBay, as have the previous casts. Shaney Jo Darden, co-founder and executive director of Keep a Breast, says the casts have raised $300,000 for the organizations. The most paid for a cast was $10,000.

High-Five Fridays #17

High-Five Fridays seems to be on hiatus; but I'm still playing.

1) Dude, Hans of AMEA, World Museum of Erotic Art has started the cool ArtCrazed.com. Now before you moan, "Oh, not another social site," let me point out the obvious: It's about art, people! Finally, you get to sit at the cool kids' table and hang out with the artistic crowd. You can hook-up with me here. Do it. You'll be one of the cool kids.

2) From The Frisky: Virgin Sacrifice: Father/Daughter Dance. It may not be "old", but it is definitely old school.

3) In honor of Loni's marriage (and because you don't like posts without naughty images), enjoy Anderson and Jan Smithers with what could be, if you peer close enough, camel toe... But at least it's breasts in little WKRP tees. (Classic TV now on video too.)



4) Kudos to Yvonne K. Fulbright at FOX (surprise!) for stating the following disclaimer at the top of her article, 7 Ways to Tell If You Are Addicted to Porn: "Author’s note: This is not an article on whether or not erotica is morally wrong. It is not an article on whether porn use is an addiction (I'll get to those great debates at another time)." At least she makes some distinctions between a problem behavior and the entire genre.

5) Why are you walking that way? Is that an erotic cane, or are you just happy to see me?

Also, I don't do these things; but as a favor to Crazy Crafty Cat Chick, I'll do the following "hit list". I'll tag no one, because I know how such things can get you killed...

Dhanosh

Marketing Myself

Brawny Hunk

Motorparasi

Nicksplat

Annette

Super Hero Extraordinare

Everyday should be Christmas

The Gadget Guru tech

Available Light

Dad's Dish

What Goes Under the Sun

One Quart Low

Stephan Miller

Mental Poo

Search for Blogging

Renatodoxaguia

Angel Baby

The Sleeping Turtle Art Gallery

Hanna

JollyJo

Olga the traveling bra

Concept is addict

Postarelibero

Nokhathai

Momreviews

Into the Rabbit Hole

Smile! Tomorrow could be a lot worse!

Wicked Whispers

Anand's blog

Catatonic Kid: A Mind Boiling Over

Discorax's House of Woot

Blogging from the Bog

Shiv's Brain

Secret Spiritual Dance

Sisters of a Different Order.

OMYWORD! Did I say that?

Letters from Exile.

~From the Myst~

I-Ching Online.

The World According to Me

Rantings & Ramblings

Crazy Crafty Cat Chick.

The BearTwins Mom

Gracefully Abnormal

Silent Porn Star

Black Beauty

From African bodies of evidence: Dartmouth's gutsy 'Black Womanhood' probes old wounds:

In 1810, an English ship's surgeon brought Saartjie Baartman, a young South African woman, to London. She was displayed on stage and made to squat to show her genitals. After she died in 1816, her brain, skeleton, and genitals went on exhibition in Paris, where they remained until 1974.

Baartman, dubbed the "Hottentot Venus," was a victim of colonialism at its most vulgar. She plays a generative role in "Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body," a sweeping, gutsy, and provocative exhibition organized by curator Barbara Thompson at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.

I'd never heard of Baartman. But now I'm fascinated -- in that ashamed awareness of those who rubberneck in ignorance which is combined with anger and sorrow for the woman herself.



It wasn't until 2002 that she returned home -- nearly two centuries later. (See also: The Life and Times of Sara Baartman "The Hottentot Venus", a film by Zola Maseko.)

The exhibition looks right up my alley -- to bad the museum isn't in my alley.

However, the catalog itself is apparently worth seeing. (You can purchase it from the museum.)

From a collector's standpoint, the following reminds me how many nude African female postcards I see:

Partial nudity was common in 19th-century Africa, but imagine the reaction of Victorian-era Europeans landing there, greeted by bare-skinned natives. They deemed Africans primitive and erotic, applied anthropometry - the measuring of body parts - to attempt to understand them, and sent postcards home, many with photos and captions intended to titillate and reinforce presumptions of white racial superiority.

Phone Sex

Phone Sex mixed media art, found at PSO Secondhand Rose's blog.

High-Five Fridays #15

1) Jane Jakeman reminds us that sometimes romanticizing history is erotic fun, in her review of The Aviary Gate, by Katie Hickman.

2) The Urban Woo links here -- thank you, too!

3) William of Hang Fire Books reviews Stalags, a documentary on the bizarre phenomenon of Israeli-produced, concentration camp fetish-porn paperbacks. As he says, "Gross? Yes. But completely fascinating."

4) The Telegraph lists the 50 best cult books.

5) Via Cult of Gracie's post-show notes, I discovered the classic painting The Swing, by Jean-Honore Fragonard (shown at left) depicts more than petticoats: "This picture became an immediate success, not merely for its technical excellence, but for the scandal behind it. The young nobleman is not only getting an interesting view up the lady's skirt, but she is being pushed into this position by her priest-lover, shown in the rear."

Find out how to give your High-Five Fridays here!

The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you've admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!

Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).

Find more High-Five Friday folks here!

** Remember, Mister Linky use is for those #1 participating in the meme (this week's High-Five Friday) and #2 who leave a comment. Thank you!

Talk Tease In Art

Cult of Gracie Radio launches Wednesday, April 23, with Dr. Jane Vargas, a PhD in human sexuality & expert in tease and fetish.

About Jane: After dating a fetishist, she started X-traordinary Talk as a hobby. It grew very quickly and she quit her job as a magazine editor to grow the business which is now nearly 15 years old. She earned her PhD in 2002, with a dissertation on the sexual expression of tease (as distinct from flirtation and seduction) and how tease has manifested in artwork thru the ages. All while raising two strong, feminist daughters.

See the current show line-up here.

Retro Pinup In Oils, Foils

A not-in-the-best condition oil painting by an unknown (Lance Forns), dated 1966, in a pin up style sold on eBay for $71.




Proof that collecting racy and risque items really pushes hot buttons. (If I had it in my wallet, I'd have bid too.)

Nesting Dolls: Erotic Wooden Screws

Retro 70's Playboy Bunnies adorn nesting dolls.



Made by belleslettres, who also makes ex-boyfriends nesting dolls.



From the looks of it, the wooden nesting dolls are the same, so one could have the ex-boyfriends screw the PB Bunnies... I know mine wood would.

It may be no surprise to learn that the maker of these dolls will also photograph herself every day for you -- for a price, of course.

Found via Slip of a Girl.

Of Art Nouveau & Sublime Curves

John Coulthart of Feuilleton and I had been discussing my eroticizing specific non-erotic artworks. He suggests it's simply the sublime in the illustrations, the "sinuous Art Nouveau curves"; I believe it may have more to do with something else...

I wrote:

Does anyone else find such illustrative style, and in fact most illustration in fairy tales etc., very erotic? I mean it’s not sexual, and the stories aren’t (necessarily) so either, but something in the epic nature, the good v. evil, combined with the fantastic puts me in such a frame of mind…

Also as noted in my comment, I'm not sure where I'm heading with this train of thought. Even after a discussion with my husband on this (an astute judge not only of art and graphic design, but of 'me' and my thinking), I'm still not much clearer.

I most definitely agree that Art Nouveau is sexy. But I still believe there's something more than just the style at work here.

I'm no closer, really, to being able to articulate what it is I am trying to get at, what I am feeling here... And in part, there's a reason why.

In all honesty, I've put off posting this for quite some time as I'm beginning to think (fear) that all roads lead back to Girlie Town. That somehow, in my mind, there's nothing really to point to other than a romanticism of the classic female variety, for which I feel on the defensive -- as if admitting my gender, created in no small part by (and also in spite of) our pervasive & insidious culture, is some how a fault, a flaw which will haunt me... rendering any past and all future posts to simply the opinions of a girl.

While I cannot be other than what I am (even if in my entitled position of "being in process"), there's something about being stamped A Girl which undermines credibility.

If my eroticism of Art Nouveau is boiled down to the simple "because you're a girl", then it's not only condescending to my gender but to myself personally.

My character, education, experience and opinions (which are a result of all the former things) are suddenly dismissed. I become predictably female and my opinions impotent in such simplicity (even if living as a female is anything but).

It's very much like artist whose work receives the stamp of Pop Culture Favorite. While the focus should be on the fact that the "pop" stands for "popularity", folks deride the value of the work. Ultimately, an artist communicates, and if the message is accepted, becomes popular, then ought not success, real not (only) monetarily, be the stamp given? Yet, the relationship seems to most often be a direct but inversely proportionate one. The more people like it, the less it is respected; as if mass adoration/adoption must equal "watered down" and worthless.

My (perhaps very) female reaction, however complex it might be, to Art Nouveau becomes watered down and worthless by virtue of its very direct relationship to a large number of persons, i.e. the female population. And I don't like it.

Especially when Art Nouveau has the very same sublime curves as I.

Photos By Philippe Halsman

Ever wonder how Philippe Halsman created this iconic image of Marilyn Monroe?

In the spring of 1952, Halsman put his signature technique to work when Life sent him to Hollywood to photograph Marilyn Monroe. Halsman asked Monroe to stand in a corner, and placed his camera directly in front of her. Later, he recalled that she looked "as if she had been pushed into the corner cornered with no way to escape." Then Halsman, his assistant, and Life's reporter staged a "fiery" competition for Monroe's attention. "Surrounded by three admiring men she smiled, flirted, giggled and wriggled with delight. During the hour I kept her cornered she enjoyed herself royally, and I . . . took between 40 and 50 pictures."

In this widely familiar portrait, Monroe wears a white evening gown and stands with her back against two walls, one dark, the other light, her eyes half closed and her dark, lipsticked mouth partly open. Yet Halsman deftly avoided any explicit representation of the true subject of the picture. Using the euphemistic language of the time, Halsman's assistant admired the photographer's ability to make "suggestive" pictures of beautiful women which still showed "good taste," emphasizing "expression" rather than "physical assets." And then the assistant added, "Halsman is very adept at provoking the expression he wants."

Also in that article on Halsman is a section on "Jumpology". While this photo of Halsman jumping with Monroe is not specifically addressed, Halsman claimed the act of jumping allows the photographer to capture a more real side of celebrities. He is quoted as saying, "When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears."



As for the work it took for Halsman to get those famous Salvador Dali photos, you'll need to see Salvador Dali Bloopers at Infomercantile.

"I wanted to see a prostitute drawn by my grandmother"

So says Project Prostitute, which then presents all the drawn images. Some of the artistic representations are of the usual variety, fishnets and smoking for example; but others are so absurd they are cute, such as the green 'lot lizard' with handcuffs.



I think what I love about this collection the most is the wide range of ideas shown; certainly the artworks expose as much about the creators as they do values and ideas regarding prostitution.




You'll also find more images from Project Prostitute at Flickr. (I discovered this by clicking 'see larger, and I find that more enjoyable than the flash galleries at Project Prostitute; there is more than one Flickr user involved, as I also found this gallery set too. So poke about and see what you find.)



And I can't help but compare these depictions of sex workers to some of the conclusions jumped to about sex collectors...



Come to think of it, that would be a really excellent project.

If you'd like to send in images of collectors of adult collectibles, sex history, risque items etc., either based on what you've had people say to you, or even what you think about me, then please do so. I'll gladly post them.

Via Fleshbot.

Of Bottoms Up, Getting Your Kicks, And Kicks In The Pants

The above illustration is by Bradshaw Crandell & from Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up, Greystone Press, NY, 1951.



Saucier was the publicist for the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel for nearly four decades, and this was likely all the authority needed to author a book of cocktail recipes for the elite -- and which appear to be, at least in part, credited to the elite.

For example, Bottoms Up is the first known reference of a vodka martini in the United States, a recipe credited to celebrity photographer Jerome Zerbe. (Zerbe was a long-time companion of the society columnist and writer Lucius Beebe. Beebe reportedly made so many flattering references to Zerbe in his newspaper column, "This New York," that rival columnist Walter Winchell suggested that the column name should be changed to "Jerome Never Looked Lovelier." Together, Zerbe and Beebe created El Morocco's Family Album.)

As a side-trip, some info on the Waldorf-Astoria -- and certainly such a grand old hotel deserves it's due at a sex history blog. (If only to see that our fascination with celeb watching isn't all that new.; perhaps at a later date we'll dish on the more sordid happenings of bedrooms.)

From a 1931 article titled, At Home To Society:

The hyphenated name caught the public's fancy: a great hotel—a name big enough to apply. The comedians and humorous writers of the day took it up and played upon it—a sure sign of popularity.

"Meet me at the hyphen," said one wag.

"Where is that?"

"Between the Waldorf and the Astoria," was the reply, That joke immediately traveled to Kalamazoo, jumped to Des Moines, leaped to San Francisco, and was soon told in the Hong-Kong Club. Going the other way, within a few weeks it was served as a relish at the Sphinx bar in Cairo with the newest American cocktail. By the spring of 1899 somebody was singing on the stage a song called "The Waldorf-Hyphen-Astoria," whose words various New York papers printed.

Here's a scan of Waldorf "Hyphen" Astoria, words and music by E.C. Center and Jackson Gouraud (via NYPL Digital Gallery).



Here are the lyrics:

We have all met those guys who affect to patronize
The hotel with the hyphenated name
But if it should befall that on them we'd try to call,
It would be hard to find them just the same.
After hunting long and well through each separate hotel,
Without result, a fellow must decide,
They may be on the square, but if they are living there,
It must be on the "hyphen" they reside.

Chrous: At the Waldorf "Hyphen" Astoria,
No matter who or what you are,
Be sure you not to Oscar as you enter.
Just speak to him by name,
And for "ten" he'll do the same--
That's the proper thing at the Waldorf "Hyphen" Astoria.

The 'Oscar' mentioned, according to Nancy Groce in New York: Songs of the City, is "Oscar Tschirky, the Waldorf-Astoria's powerful and punctilious headwaiter". And the song may have mocked the name, but was more about the who's who which stayed there -- and resulting gawkers:

Of course, like today, not everybody seen there was actually a guest or a patron of the hotel's extremely expensive restaurant, the Palm Garden. Many, like the poseur in the 1897 song "Waldorf 'Hyphen' Astoria," simply hung around for a glimpse of the rich and famous.

The song was sung by John Parr in A Reign of Error, a musical farce featuring The Rogers Brothers.



It seems the production had been around earlier, and the song added later (March 19, 1899, The New York Times)



The same allure & authority Saucier & the Waldorf-Astoria held for publishers captured the attention of Hefner and Bottoms Up received a dandy review in the second issue of Playboy -- sure the nude illustrations helped *wink*


(Images via A Dash of Bitters.)

This collector cannot be restrained from wanting such a book. (Give me the $200 for the signed copy at eBay, will ya? I'd settle for any decent copy of Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up, actually; but why should I settle for anything?)

Nor can she help (nor be stopped) from noting this little piece of irony discovered during her research...

In 1931 some clever person (known only by the initials M.C.) 'respectfully' suggested that "the militant suffrage movement, now on the rampage in England, be referred to as 'The Reign of Error'."


It would seem that M.C. was unaware of both theatre & popular music to feel they had coined such a phrase. (Unless they were just 13 years of age at the time the letter to the editor was penned.)

So we begin with an illustration of a naked lady using ice tongs to select men she'll consume and end with a person wishing women would remain less than equals in the eyes of the law.

I leave it for you to discuss.

Of Sex Pots & Beautiful Girls, Beauty & Art, & Carole Landis

In case you hadn't noticed, I am as much 'anthropologist' as 'historian' and 'smut fan' -- modestly educated in each, but mostly of the well-read self-taught variety.

As all three, I welcome a more contextual approach to biographies than the usual gushing over the pretty cheesecake of yesterday. So I was really excited to discover that Eric Lawrence Gans, Professor of French & Francophone Studies at UCLA, founder of Generative Anthropology and author of several books (in anthropology and other areas), has been working on a book about Carole Landis.

Carole Landis: A Most Beautiful Girl (Hollywood Legends Series), is due this June from University Press of Mississippi. You can pre-order it at Amazon now -- but while you eagerly await the work, why not enjoy his notes in progress?



Of particular note, in the broader question of 'broad appeal', his article Carole Landis and the Concept of Public Beauty, from which the following is excerpted:

The experience of beauty--true beauty, not the mimetic sign of a fictive other’s desire--is the worldly correlate of what we call immortality, the timelessness of the realm of signs. It is an individual, not a collective experience, one that finds its guarantee on the individual’s internal scene of representation rather than on the public scene of ritual from which it derives.

The beauty of art is a beauty of representation, of signs rather than things. Because artworks are composed of human signs, the postmodern spirit that sees natural difference as the product of cultural victimage tempts us to construe them entirely within the "socially constructed" orbit of mimetic desire and its deferral. But mimetic desire, even as a specifically human phenomenon, is founded on appetite, with which it loses contact only at the point of madness.

The prototype of Kant’s idea of natural beauty is landscape, a source of esthetic pleasure less in itself than by analogy with landscape painting. But by far the most intense experience of natural beauty, indeed, of beauty tout court, is that of human beauty. In classical civilization, this beauty was more likely to be masculine than feminine, but beginning with the troubadours and medieval courtly love, the terms "beauty" and "beautiful" have been applied more and more exclusively to women. Since the demise of the Old Regime eliminated the sacred/aristocratic notion of self-display, the norm of masculine dress has become sober and conventional, whereas women’s clothing and adornment remains attuned to displaying the body to advantage.

Some feminists have complained of the "objectification" of women in such things as beauty contests. Yet historically, the increasing insistence on feminine beauty parallels the growing equality of women. Today, when women are arguably closer to equal public status with men than ever in history, young women’s dress seems geared more than ever to the flattering display of the body. The obvious difference in the respective degrees to which sexual selection has reshaped male and female bodies obliges us to conclude that, lacking special cultural circumstances, female beauty will always be more humanly significant than masculine. Nor is this beauty appreciated exclusively or even predominantly by men. Not only do women actively seek out examples of female beauty to imitate; they are touched by it, perhaps more authentically than men. Of the many people to whom I have shown Carole’s pictures, a far greater proportion of men than women feel the need to deny her exceptionality. To my mind, this difference is attributable to the interference of the shame of masculine desire with esthetic judgment. In particular, interest in the bosom is so vulnerable to ridicule that efforts to avoid it dominate whole historical eras, for example, the 1920s, during which time men’s real tastes in women’s bodies could hardly have undergone some mysterious mutation. Women, unencumbered by male embarrassment, are much more ready to acknowledge female beauty when they see it.

While earlier on, Gans' adoration of Landis is quite apparent with poetic praise -- which he will again and again return too -- it's his context and tone of unapologetic anthropological study which makes me believe Carole Landis: A Most Beautiful Girl will be more than just the usual biography of a babe.



Gans continues:

I would not be writing about Carole if I saw her as one among many beautiful and talented actress whose lives were shortened by exploitation and calumny and/or unjustly neglected by history. My experience of Carole is of someone unique, and it would be unfaithful to that experience for me not to begin from the premise of her uniqueness. This leads to an anomaly that must be faced head on. How can it be that during the era when Hollywood wholly dominated the generation of images of public beauty, only one person has left us a truly beautiful public image, and, if this is so, how is it possible that this person and her images are so nearly forgotten today?

Although many are reluctant to admit it, a woman’s beauty begins with her body, which the glamour photograph can only suggest; with a few possible exceptions, such as the infamous Marilyn Monroe calendar, nude photography before the 1970s was either art photography or pornography, neither of which are modes of what I call public beauty. The subject of the picture says to us, "take this image as a substitute for what I cannot show you, but which I promise you is there." Yet the typical glamour shot (classically, an 8x10 black and white glossy), even of the presumably most beautiful stars, promises something it cannot deliver. The disparity between the physical beauty that the subject’s dress and comportment promise us and what our objective judgment concludes is really there is a measure of the mimetic element in our cultural perception; one is expected to sacrifice one’s judgment on the altar of cultural mimesis to the (implicitly collective) suggestion emanating from the picture itself. The spectator must supplement the image’s failure to fulfill its promise (a relative failure, to be sure, but the promise is of "absolute" satisfaction) with images of the star’s film roles, perhaps of her off-screen life. The success of the Hollywood publicity machine in determining our sense of public beauty is a tribute to the effectiveness of this sacrificial operation.

Do yourself a favor and peruse the Carole Landis pages of Gans.

Collections: Public Or Private?

Reading of the Center for Sex & Culture's requests for donations (via the SK message boards), I am reminded of several issues.

Personally, I support the center; but like many private collectors, I have mixed emotions on such donations...

It's not just personal greed -- though I readily admit I want stuff! -- I've heard of and seen many smaller museums, centers, 'group collections', organizations etc. fail. And I don't just mean financially in the sense that they fold-up shop; some of them, due to poor funding and training, do not properly care for the items in their collection. And in some cases, people have just up and walked off with goodies they've cherry-picked from the collection (stolen goods cannot be shown to anyone, really). All of which puts objects at risk of permanent loss.

I'm not accusing those with the Center for Sex & Culture of anything here; just allowing the thoughts it prompts to post regarding my mixed emotions and general concerns.

There's an ongoing debate between private, independent collectors and collectives or official museums centered, usually, on the matters of who takes better care of collections, & the public's right to access them.

Often museums view themselves as most trained and prepared for the preservation of items, but in a world of shrinking support for the arts this isn't necessarily so.

Many private collectors do arrange for public viewing of their collections, including lending the collection, in whole or parts, to larger public institutions; even as many organizations and museums relegate items to 'the basement' or other off-limits areas of the institution, rendering them unavailable to the public.

Determining a hard-and-fast rule on what ought to be done is prevented because, as with many things, the decision rests on particulars which vary with individuals and individual organizations. Thus the debate of just 'who should own and collect' continues.

And it brings up several other matters in collecting, pubic access, viewing and ownership.

While your usual artistic fare is available in representation (for example, Monet posters to purchase while the original painting's ownership is not possible), many other artworks & artifacts are not. Some because they are not legally possible to reproduce (copyright ownership issues), others due to budgetary constraints (set up costs for quality work are unobtainable) and even strict restrictions of such things (for example, items willed to a museum with stipulations). And others, such as 'porn', are either deemed in poor taste to do such things with, or with too little buying interest to recoup creation/replication costs.

The Internet has been a boon to such public viewing. Even with censorship (perceived threats and actual actions), it is an opportunity to share as well as research. However, museums and institutions, both large and small, have been among the last to jump in these digital waters.

Partly, this is due to lack of funding -- even a free Blogger blog requires some person to write & post, and a struggling institution may have no one to do such work amidst their other duties. And many volunteers, though interested, are deemed unable simply because they would require supervision and access which diminishes resources.

Largely, however, the matter of not being on the Internet is one of choice.

Having been privy to conversations among museum professionals, it's clear that the matter of entre to the Internet isn't merely a lack of technical ability and understanding, or even funds for such a venture and its staffing needs; it's the simple matter of a lack of understanding the possibility whilst fearing some probability.

Many institutions fear the world wide web's free display of objects & information; the virtual tour will replace the physical visit and it's at-the-door fees -- which are required to support the physical space & persons required to maintain the collection. For organizations which document not only the marvels of technological advances but the fearful cultural responses to these advances is not merely ironic, it's rather sad.

They cannot claim ignorance while they house exhibits dedicated to such things as the story of - and reaction to -- the cotton gin. Or, for a more easily digested comparison, the invention of the television and the groups which feared the tube.

On argument against TV was the fear that it would destroy families, morals, and country with its passive and/or inappropriate programing; this is the anti-culture argument which many professional collecting organizations talk about. It is a two-fold argument. A), having an Internet presence is not only equal to encouraging people not to really experience the arts and interact with community and the world at large with visits to museums, performances, etc. B), such participation in the web is tantamount to assisting in the vast amounts of misinformation which exists 'out here'.

The motion picture studios feared the smaller private screen would trump the larger public experience and put them out of business; this is lack of asses in the paid for seats is exactly what museums fear will be the end of their own industry.

Clearly, in any of these arguments, there is a complete lack of understanding of marketing & audience -- and even of mission.

The huge numbers of historical sites -- from those dedicated to the smallest details of a particular item, time period or person, to the largest more all-encompassing portals -- should only serve to comfort museums, libraries and organizations that there is a hunger for what they offer. Their audience, volunteers, members and even deep-pockets of financial support await them here.

The best way to combat misinformation -- from the ignorant mistakes of the passionate to the mean-spirited zealots who wish to control & use information -- is to participate in the conversations which are already in progress. Put up a site, blog your collection piece by piece, and comment at other blogs and communities. Even if time and budget limits your ability to comment/correct every blogging Joe and Josephine who is missing the facts, your accurate information coupled with your official status as the organization with both artifact and historian, means there is valid information for those who do research.

And then there are the countless possibilities of finding experts, authors, & items.

In the end, any institution or organization with an active presence is likely to garner the attention it wishes -- including more paid admissions and donations. I myself am more likely to visit places, near and far, which I know have the items I am interested in if I am able to see and read of them, knowing that knowledgeable, passionate staff -- and visible objects await me. Ditto any other support (from donations to blog posts).

When it comes to the topic of 'smut collections' and sex history, I must also admit that I see little to convince me that this category won't be the first area to be negatively affected by funding cuts, diminished or invisible display area, curating efforts, and to be under appreciated in general. It's largely why other organizations which began dedicated to this part of our history have failed -- too little public support and outcry in favor of such acquisitions, care & funding while the nay-sayers speak loudly & carry big sticks to punish such sinners.

Countless headlines speak of art museums moving 'offensive' classic artworks from public view, and the world goes on as if this is no big loss. Each one of these cases is used to leverage the next censored public display & so on & so on until one has to wonder just when and where those objects and works will be seen again... Not to mention, wonder just what the hell is going on.

When sex history collections are in private hands, there is little threat from public outcry -- at least while the collector is alive. But then, any decent collector of indecent collectibles will have made proper arrangements through their estate. (I myself am open to receipt of & care for such collections, should no other situation avail itself.)

Given that I have A) a low tolerance for museums and organizations which either resist the Internet or create only static pamphlet-like websites, B) know of so many private collectors who are willing to share their collection and knowledge, and C) see little institutional dedication to sex in terms of a strong public stance against ignorant public outcry (even the Kinsey Institute is too damn quiet these days), I'm more inclined to resist donations to groups and museums.

At least until I see a willingness to share (images and information) and participate (in conversations and study) despite & in spite of censorship calls.

Enoch Bolles Film Fun Cover

Film Fun, December, 1941

Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali became one of my favorite artists the minute I saw The Temptation of Saint Anthony.



Dali did many a nude...





Including versions of Leda & her swan.




It's difficult for me to imagine Dali as alive in the atomic & repressed 50's, but here he is, on an episode of CBS's What's My Line?

Film On Flesh

In Gracie's review of John & Mary (1969), there are images from the film of one of those gosh-darn-cool-big-city parties where those naughty artistic folks projected film onto live nude girls a female nude.


I've not seen the film (yet), but have, naturally, heard-tell of such things. When I read/saw the John & Mary review, I was reminded that I'd recently stumbled upon some more recent projection photographs and I realized something... Why I had not thought much of them.

I then tried to retrace my Internet-steps, which was not easy. I couldn't find the original photographer's website -- and I searched, doggedly, for over an hour, with no luck (which made this female bitchy). Instead, I offer you this: The Living Canvas.



What strikes me, when I think of those radical retro artsy projection parties, is the fleeting nature of moving images upon flesh -- which also moves. You have the magic of something seen on, by not felt by, the model/canvas/person. You have the ephemeral quality of it all happening in moments, and then it's gone.

It's titillating, transitory... Arousing and alive. And then it's over. No matter how young, ripe and lush the body, the life, the party or event, everything ends. Only to live on in memories and flashbacks, I suppose.

I 'get' the performance, be it the old or artsy party or the new theatrical event; but the photographs seem to loose something. What they 'gain' in ability to keep, they loose in luster. The very stillness of the human form, the lack of movement, even subtle breathing, puts the matter of 'alive' into question and the moment saved is really not the moment at all.

When performance, however subtle, is replaced by a pose, it's just film on film.

No longer is the flesh really a part of the image at all.

And for me, the thrill is gone.

Today She'd Be Called A Cougar

Chéri Hérouard's, Le Chasseur En Peril, Le Coup Ravissant (The hunter in peril... Or the ravishing wolf), published in La Vie Parisienne.

Via asoftblackstar.

Antique Erotic Commentary Illustration

Via LJ's Antique Prints & Illustration Community.

Of Monroe Doctrines

I don't usually bother with coins, but Derek's article on the new Monroe dollar reminds me of something:

This isn’t the first time Monroe has been on the obverse of a coin, although the first time around he had to share the honor with a friend: in 1923, the Mint commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine with a special half-dollar, with the heads of Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams (who will appear on a dollar himself May 15th). It wasn’t actually the Mint’s idea for the commemorative dollar: the commemorative coin was part of an elaborate plan to clean up and improve the public image of the California film industry. 300,000 of the coins were minted at the San Francisco mint and distributed in California — they are relatively uncommon, but not unobtainably rare. Several have sold on eBay from $20 to $80, depending on condition.

From that link, regarding Monroe's first coin, I am reminded of jokes about the Monroe Doctrine. They've been the pun-ery and titular fodder for Hollywood-esque headlines involving Marilyn Monroe -- and as scathing comment on US politics. But before Marilyn, there was another Hollywood connection to James Monroe. Again from the coin article link, a bit of Hollywood history:

Scandals were beginning to severely tarnish the reputation of the studios’ stars and directors. Within only a few months director William Desmond Taylor was murdered under mysterious circumstances, Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was indicted for the murder of a minor actress, and actor Wallace Reid died from a drug overdose. The studios responded by launching a public relations campaign that they hoped would help restore public confidence in the movie industry. Two committees were formed. One, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, developed over the next decade into a self-regulating censorship board. The other, the American Historical Revue and Motion Picture Historical Exposition, was a civic-minded organization whose public relations staff found it had little to promote.

Searching for a way to raise funds, the Historical Exposition decided that a commemorative coin would do the trick, and in the process would generate much-needed goodwill for the film industry. The only problem was there were no convenient centennial or jubilee celebrations that California could legitimately claim in 1923. The most obvious historic event correlating with 1923 was the 150th anniversary of the 1773 Boston Tea Party. But in 1773, California was a largely unpopulated province in the Spanish Empire with no connection to New England. This dilemma was finally resolved by Congressman Walter Lineberger. Introducing a bill to authorize the Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar, Lineberger reasoned that Monroe Doctrine prevented England, Spain, and Russia from claiming and occupying California. While this was nothing more than historical fiction, apparently Lineberger and his fellow representatives had little concern for such details. On January 24, 1923, legislation was passed authorizing the minting of no more than 300,000 Monroe Doctrine Centennial halves: the coins were to be struck at the San Francisco Mint and distributed by the studio’s Historical Exposition committee.

The front of the coin featured Monroe and his Secretary of State in 1823, John Quincy Adams; the back "in its final form is unquestionably one of the most unusual and daring design motifs ever placed on a U.S. coin.

In place of the relief maps of the continents, Beach substituted two female figures which were contorted into a rough approximation of the shape of each land mass. The North American figure holds a branch in her left hand in the area of northern Canada while extending a twig to South America through Central America with her right hand. The South American figure holds a cornucopia with her right arm. The major ocean currents of the Atlantic and Pacific are also included, and apparently represent the flow of goods between the two continents, unimpeded by the European powers. In the lower left reverse field the centennial dates 1823-1923 flank both sides of a scroll and quill, symbols clearly intended to suggest the Monroe Doctrine. Chester Beach’s initials are found near the reverse rim at the four o’clock position and the inscriptions MONROE DOCTRINE CENTENNIAL and LOS ANGELES encircle the border. Struck in low relief, the design overall is uninspiring. The reverse motifs are novel and would indicate a certain creativity on the part of Beach were it not for the fact that the draped female figures shaped as two continents were actually copyrighted in 1899 by artist Ralph Beck and used by Beach for the seal of the Pan-American Exposition of 1901.

The artist, more commonly known as Raphael Beck or A. Raphael Beck, did in fact create the clever female continent design. Beck's work, among over 400 submissions, was chosen as the official logo by the Pan-American Exposition Company for the expo in 1901 and official souvenirs, (silver spoon image via Sipler).



In other words, the deal with the first Monroe coin was to promote a more pure Hollywood -- with a completely fabricated story & a coin with appropriated art. Nice new image, Hollywood.

Related:

Complicated Women: Sex & Power in Pre-Code Hollywood

Pola Negri

Marilyn Monroe: All I Need Is This Doll

Something To Talk About

Thom of Planet Fabulon sends this image of Voluptousness equation, 2003, oil on canvas, by Roman Tolici.


We mustn't disappoint -- so start talking. *wink*

Related:

Interview with the Russian artist.

"Life Is Better With Art In It"

His student created the poster below for a scholarship contest at the Art Institutes, and while this smut collector spends much of her time either in a 'porn v art' debate (or trying to avoid one), I proudly declare that life is indeed better with art in it. No matter how you define 'art'.



Even if you secretly believe it would look better with a visible nipple. *wink*

Naughty Needleworks

This embroidered nude sold for just $2.99 (curse me for writing here, not cruising eBay!).

Whenever I see such vintage nude needleworks, it's difficult not to imagine a woman doing such dirty needle deeds hidden in the dark -- like a teen boy with his flashlight & porn, under the covers with hidden delights they craft their illicit works.

Of course now, modern artists aren't hiding. Jenny Hart, Orly Cogan, Whitney Lee, and others are no longer looming under the covers.



From time to time I toy with turning my hand to such artistry; but the allure to collect the older, forbidden pieces is even stronger. Perhaps because they are so difficult to find.



Related:

Nude embroidery pulled from Saskatoon fair.

August Macke, Sitting Nude with Cushions, Machine Embroidery Design

While this last piece, by Karen Paust, is a beaded work, it's too unique not to share.

Come On Up And See...

François Dubeau's (sk)etchings.



OK, so they are ink drawings, not etches, but I like to throw a little history in with a post about modern art works. So sue me.

If you still feel upset looking at all the art by François Dubeau, that is. And I highly doubt you will.

The Savage 70's

A retro postcard for Casino de Paris at the old Dunes in Las Vegas. Casino de Paris, with it's cast of 100, was conceived, produced and directed by Frederic Apcar, and came to the Dunes in '63.

I cannot make out the artist name on the illustration (no credits are on the back), nor do I know if the nude blonde with a tiger is representative of any particular star. Any help is appreciated.

I just love that the risque card was sent to, "Dear Mother & Father".


According to the image below, via Las Vegas Mikey, Savage '70's started in 1970. (The postcard's postmark is difficult to read; it looks like it could be 1971.)



Related:

* Mondo-Vegas on the Dunes Hotel

* more images & info on Casino de Paris

* a Dunes menu with the same art

* Loulou Gasté (related to photo of Loulou Gasté & Line Renaud in front of classic Dunes sign promoting Casino de Paris, below)

Rings Around Of Rosies...

Asses, asses, will they all fall down?


Bacchus has found this vintage image he's calling "Ring Of Sodomy" -- and if you know anything about it, please do share!

One lead has suggested the image may be from the Barbican, but they opt for few images on their site... As with this Between the Futons: Japanese Erotica of the Early Modern Period exhibit.

Sex Worker's Art Show, 2008

This info comes via Chloe Jo's Newsletter:

The show is a jaw-dropping evening of performance art created by people who work in the sex industry and are artists, innovators, and geniuses!

Hitting the road in two big vans loaded with a stripper pole, fifteen ponds of glitter, and an ipod, the acclaimed cabaret-style show brings audiences across the nation a blend of spoken word, music, drag, burlesque, and multimedia performance art. Intelligent and hot, disturbing and hilarious, the performances offer a wide range of perspectives on sex work, from celebrations of sex positivity, to views of the darker sides of the industry.

This year's incredible lineup of performers includes international burlesque sensation and recipient of the "Best Body in Burlesque" award, Miss Dirty Martini; infamous feminist author Chris Kraus; award-winning author of the coming-out memoir How I Learned to Snap, Kirk Read; porn star and writer Lorelei Lee; performance artist and comic queen of cleavage The World Famous *BOB*; performer and musical theatre mutineer Erin Markey; internationally infamous drag-subverter Krylon Superstar; dominatrix and destroyer of Asian feminine mythology Keva I. Lee; and tour founder and director Annie Oakley.

The show includes people from all areas of the sex industry: strippers, prostitutes, dommes, film stars, phone sex operators, internet models, etc. It smashes traditional stereotypes and moves beyond "positive" and "negative" into a fuller articulation of the complicated ways sex workers experience their jobs and their lives. The Sex Workers' Art Show entertains, arouses, and amazes while simultaneously offering scathing and insightful commentary on notions of class, race, gender, labor and sexuality!

Also featured at the show will be a new anthology of sex worker writings, Working Sex: Sex Workers Write About a Changing Industry (Seal Press), edited by Annie Oakley. Working Sex features work by several of the show's performers, as well as Eileen Myles, Bruce LaBruce, Nomy Lamm, Michelle Tea, and many more!

For more info visit http://sexworkersartshow.com

A Nice Vintage Pair

A pair of vintage nude paint by numbers, of which the seller says:

From Craftint Manufacturing Company, "600" series. #600-H "Model At Water Fall" and "Model At Pool." 1958.

Paintings measure 18" x 24" each.

For more, see Nudes By The Numbers.

History of Western Porn

Marianna Beck's series, The Roots of Western Pornography, is being published at Libido Film's blog. As they put it, "porn is not merely about sex. It also has a social and political context." Amen.

So far, there are three parts:

Part One: an introduction and Italy in the 16th-century in Italy (titled: I modi -- the birth of the stroke book)

Part Two: French Enlightenment in the 17th-century

Part Three: England Bites Back With Fanny Hill

Watch for the rest because it's excellent.

Image from Pietro Aretino's I modi.

The Trix Rabbit Was A Penis Bearing Trickster

Upon learning that the Trix Rabbit "is probably the most striking example of a cereal trickster who closely follows the mythic conventions of the North American tricksters in particular," I began to ponder "tricksters" again.

In case you are too lazy to click the above link (tsk tsk), here's some info from Tricksters and the Marketing of Breakfast Cereals, by Thomas Green, The Journal of Popular Culture (Volume 40, Issue 1, Page 49-68, February, 2007) that you'll need to keep along with the class:

In his basic form, the Trix Rabbit resembles mythical trickster figures in that he is an anthropomorphized animal, like the hare trickster Wakjunkaga. He exhibits the insatiable hunger typical of Wakjunkaga, but not for foods typically associated with rabbits. He desires only the Trix brand breakfast cereal, and is willing to cheat and deceive in order to get it. In the early days of Trix, the variations on the specific disguise that the Rabbit adopted were still closely identified with the plot premise: He was attempting to appear as something other than a rabbit, so a little old lady or astronaut disguise would do. In more recent years the disguises have begun to take on the form of whatever the advertisers perceive as popular with kids at the time, so in the 1980s the Rabbit disguised himself as a breakdancer, and, most recently, a karaoke singer. In any case, the Rabbit is using these disguises, to appear more human than rabbit, which emphasizes the way in which the Trix Rabbit most closely corresponds to the archetypal Radin/Jung trickster.

Jung, in particular, theorized, in a now largely discounted but still interesting way, that the trickster figure represents the psychological state of humanity making the transition from animal to human. Using Radin's description of Wakjunkaga as a touchtone, Jung describes the trickster cycle as demonstrating how the trickster gradually comes to greater levels of control over his selfish, predatory, animalistic impulses—associated with animal physical forms such as the hare, the coyote, and the raven. In this way, according to Jung, Radin's trickster evolves into a thereomorphic culture hero who sacrifices himself to give gifts to humankind, which is the hallmark of humanity in this scheme (144).

But what Green doesn't tell you may put your breakfast cereal in a whole new red light.

Paul Radin, who Green mentioned, was an anthropologist who focused mainly on folk literature and religion among Native Americans (among others) and wrote The Trickster: A Study in American Indian Mythology. This initial trickster treatise was published in 1955 after studying Winnebago myths.

Of this work, Karin Glinden writes Trickster:

The Winnebago Trickster cycle of forty-nine stories is central in his book, The Trickster and is the most referenced trickster figure of his writings by subsequent students of Native American tricksters. According to Radin the translation of the tricky one in a Siouan language of the Winnebago is wakdjunkaga; accordingly this specific trickster cycle is also known as the Wakdjunkaga Trickster cycle.

(Please note, there are several spellings of wakdjunkaga (Green used "wakjunkaga" and I've also seen "Wisakejak" & "Wisakedjak" for the Cree trickster.)

Among the forty nine stories are the story of Wakdjunkaga taking his extremely large and weighty penis from the box off his back where he carries it to send it across the river to impregnate a chief's daughter and the story of the talking laxative bulb consumed by the trickster resulting in effluent scatological comedies.

According to Glinden, Radin concludes his study by saying:

The overwhelming majority of all so-called trickster myths in North America give an account of the creation of the earth, or at least the transforming of the world, and have a hero who is always wandering, who is always hungry, who is not guided by normal conceptions of good or evil, who is either playing tricks on people of having them played on him and who is highly sexed. Almost everywhere he has some divine traits. These vary from tribe to tribe. In some instances he is regarded as an actual deity, in others as intimately connected with deities, in still others he is at best a generalized animal or human being subject to death (155).

But the effluent scatological comedy plot thickens... as Glinden writes:

Trickster myths are found in nine of the eleven Native American Regions (Hynes 3). Koshare, Koyemshi, and Neweke are trickster clowns of the Pueblo people who display wanton voracity, sexual and otherwise, but are confined to ritual ceremonies (Leeming 46). Other common animal-person tricksters besides the Hare and Spider are the Raven and Coyote. "Coyote…easily the favorite…crosses tribal boundaries with as much ease as he crosses moral and social ones. He exists is the West from Alaska to the great deserts, he is everywhere on the Great Plains, and he ranges even to the East Coast"(Leeming 48). Coyote is often a teacher by counter-example as he employs base human traits including lying, cheating, and sexual misconduct.

It should be noted at this time that tricksters are not really thought of as shape-shifters; they may have the ability, but the key is that the trickster is disguised, just as the Trix Rabbit, in order to fool or expose foolish things. Trickster may fool, be fooled, but he also teaches; this is his purpose.

Also, the trickster is not male or female but rather is genderless meaning that a trickster may be of any gender -- but they are not Two Spirit People, expressing the gender continuum.

While a trickster may appear as any gender, most often they are depicted as male. This is for two reasons.

One, in stories where the lesson lies in sexual misconduct the male member is most useful -- nothing illustrates sexual impulsivity like a penis!

The other reason lies in cultural constructs which allows and disallows freedoms based upon gender. In Transformation Of The Trickster, Helen Lock writes of the cultural situationality of trickster gender:

...both Landay and Jeanne Rosier Smith, in Writing Tricksters: Mythic Gambols in American Ethnic Literature (1997), which focuses on women writers, make the crucial point that tricksters are culturally specific. In the patriarchal societies that produced the archetypal tricksters Hyde discusses, the very qualities that enabled the trickster to operate belonged culturally to men, or, as Landay puts it, “[I]n a sexist society, the male trickster clearly has the advantages of masculinity: mobility, autonomy, power, safety” (2). These advantages are in themselves gender-neutral, but are gendered by cultural association. Trickster is not gendered—only cultural perceptions of the freedom and mobility necessary to be trickster. Thus, premodern tricksters were imagined as primarily masculine, though with gender-changing abilities, while the alchemical age saw Mercurius as fully hermaphroditic (representing also the “female aspects of matter” [Nicholl 32] as part of his elusive ambiguity), but gave this transformative spirit the masculine name of the god whose powers they perceived it to embody; and now, particularly in modern Western literature and culture (although such figures abound elsewhere, also), Landay and Smith find many female trickster figures, from Toni Morrison’s Pilate to Catwoman. Each age redefines the trickster it needs, as the boundaries of the possible, in this case for women, continue to shift; and although Hyde may be right that there are no modern tricksters in the sense of the archaic archetype that depended on a world of polytheism, it seems more appropriate to say that tricksters have always resisted the confinement of archetype, and modify and transform it whenever a new age gives them a chance.

Speaking of new age...

I find it interesting that there are a number of tarot cards which feature Coyote Trickster. On one hand, this is due to a popular resurgence of interest with Native American culture, sometimes on a more pop level than a scholarly one. But it certainly makes sense that tricksters would hold an appeal to those who like to deal with symbols, including not only authors but those who use tarot cards.

There is something fascinating about the mutability of tricksters which easily lends to twists, modifications and new or different interpretation. My Daughter of the Moon Tarot, a very female centric tarot deck of Dianic Wiccan principals, offers a Coyotewoman card which is optional to use rather than the Pan card (the only male card in the deck -- and a positive male energy card).





It was, strangely, this Coyotewoman card which made me once obsessed with tricksters.

Which is not surprising, given my Judeo-Christian up-bringing. From Glinden again:

Taking note of this is to underline a fundamental difference in the psyches of Native and non Native Americans. Inherent in Christian mythology is the concept of tragedy as one can fall from a rigidly defined sense of order. When there is no coherent order to fall from, rather a creation birthed from paradox that is inclusive of both sacred and profane, there is no tragedy. Tricksters bring instead comedy, a communal adhesive.

Oral stories were told for specific reasons within the separate cultures of Native Americans; the revered storyteller tailored the story while speaking to distinct people of the group being addressed. It is difficult to ascertain the full extent of the messages from these historic trickster stories as they were respectfully told to and altered for the people they were told to, which also accounts for the myths' mutability. However, the trickster is prevalent in contemporary Native American literature. The messages are apropos in light of the movement of Native Americans to deconstruct old stereotypes of American Indians and renew a vital consciousness about their identities and clearly accessible to the contemporary reader.

For more on tricksters, see the Introduction to Native American Tricksters by K. L. Nichols.

Image credits: Image of coyote and stars by Layne Miller, via.

Female Art Nudes by Mancini

Nudes by Antonio Mancini, featured in both The New York Times and The Broad Street Review due to the current exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Xavier Cugat: Creative Cool-Cat With All The Kittens

Xavier Cugat, the Rhumba King, is as known for his love life as he is his Latin rhythms.



A notorious womanizer, he married five times:

#1 Rita Montaner
#2 Carmen Castillo
#3 Lorraine Allen
#4 Abbe Lane (In his bands for many years, until their divorce.)
#5 Charo (She & Cugat were the first couple to marry at Caesars Palace when it opened in Las Vegas in 1966.)

Cugat also has many film credits, mainly for playing himself.

From Stage Door Canteen (1943) here's Lina Romay (not this Lina Romay) with Cugat & orchestra, performing She's a Bombshell from Brooklyn:



Lina Romay sings Antonio in the motion picture The Heat's On (1944)with the Xavier Cugat Orchestra.



Cugat supposedly gave Rita Hayworth one of her first jobs, and so later appeared with her in You Were Never Lovelier, but I remember him from so many of Esther Williams films, including the remake of Annette Kellerman's Neptune's Daughter.

Via A Damn Find Product's post we learn that Xavier Cugat was also a talented illustrator. Exhibit A, cover of Game & Gossip, 1932:



Exhibit B, Fandango - Dance Rhythms - IV (from Game & Gossip, 1932):


Perhaps the most fascinating is this fold-out with 74 caricatures of the most popular Hollywood celebrities such as Fanny Brice, Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Clara Bow, Gloria Swanson, Constance Bennett, Billie Dove, Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin.


For more names, see the list of names and the key; but note the following: Dietrich could not even pose in Cugat's imagination with Garbo, and note how powerful women were -- their names & personalities still awe.

That Cugat would was an illustrator shouldn't be shocking. Golden Age of illustration notwithstanding, Cugat was a bit of a money-grubbing sell-out jack-of-all-trades who's been quoted as saying, "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve." According to Solid!:

Cugat was often depicted in publicity photos holding a chihuahua and a pipe, even though he didn't smoke. He was never the one to miss out on a good business opportunity, however. He cashed in on this image and began selling his own line of pipes. He also started a chihuahua breeding business which featured documentation certifying that the dogs were Cugat dogs. Cugat never met a marketing deal he didn't like. Over the years he hawked a diverse line of products, including cigarette lighters and shirts, and also owned several Los Angeles-area restaurants. In addition Cugat was a talented caricaturist. His work appeared in newspapers, magazines and galleries around the world. During the 1920s he worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times newspaper while playing music at night.

Perhaps this is why Cugat was never without beautiful women.

Anal Fisting, By Michelangelo?

Bacchus brings us closer to the answer...



If you know anything, or have something to add to the conversation, please post comments for Bacchus (and lil ol me too).

Feminizing The Female Through Enema

I'm not into enemas ("not that there's anything wrong with that"), but what strikes me the most about this particular artwork is the soft, intimate nature of the women -- right down to the lingerie -- which is in stark contrast to an action which seems rather harsh & strong in-and-of-itself. Very iron hand in the velvet glove, and so atypical of BDSM art where sharp, angled Femdoms wear shiny black as they wield hard objects in bleak dungeons.

Found in Montorgueil and other Erotic Cartoons set at Flickr, I don't believe this is the work of Bernard Montorgueil because he had his females dominate men -- and his works tend to have more of that crisp quality.

You can find lots more of these drawings via manuel1960ar Flickr set.

"The Dinner Party"

Tom Pain of Polyamorously Perverse discusses Judy Chicago's infamous The Dinner Party, an installation of ceramic plates and embroidered place mats intended to celebrate important historical and mythical women, complete with vulva plates:

I confess that when "The Dinner Party" first appeared, I was a bit shocked at the crudeness of its chosen metaphor. But over time, the project has grown on me, and seeing it for the first time in person reminded me why gender makes a difference in our appreciation of the world. C. has taught me how women are never free from the sexual pressure of objectification, whether taunts and catcalls on the street, or the never-ending reminders by the media how women are expected to look beautiful and be sexually-available to men at all times.

Read the rest here.

Hellish Library Of My Dreams

The the French National Library has unlocked its secret archive of erotic art, and what's most surprising shouldn't be:

Marc Lambron, a novelist, said that a visit to the show, which is closed to visitors under 16, was a lesson for those who believe that good morals dominated the past. “Enter these ancestral grottos and you will gauge the scale of that lie,” he wrote.

A-duh. How'd we carry on as a species if we didn't fornicate? Expressing sex in art, if nothing else, confirms our cultural delight -- hey, and no delight in it, no afternoon delight, no babies.

What thrills (and saddens as I won't be able to visit) is the collection of written works:

The show of 350 works, ranging from manuscripts by the Marquis de Sade to early pornographic photography, is causing a stir because the library’s trove of licentious literature – known as L’Enfer (Hell) – has been the stuff of fantasy since the early 19th century.

L’Enfer, to which “immoral” works were often consigned after police seizure, was closed in 1969. Now that morals have changed, the Paris transport authority has even joined the fun, converting a Métro station into a teaser for the exhibition. Underground trains will slow down at the disused Croix-Rouge station so that passengers can glimpse erotic engravings.

Hell got its name in the 1830s when the library isolated from its vast collection works that were deemed to be “contrary to good morals”. The original works, which survived police bonfires and theft by curators, include a rich collection from the libertine age of the 18th century. Top among them is Thérèse Philosophe, a 1748 novel about the initiation of a lustful young woman that was a bestseller of its era. Some great names were consigned to Hell, including Voltaire, whose heroic-comic poem La Pucelle (The Maid) sparked scandal and the wrath of the King and the Pope in 1762.

Link found via Radical Vixen.

The Moaner Lisa

I don't usually post new objects here, but when I spotted this Moaner Lisa Orgasmic Bottle Opener at The Diary of an English Courtesan, I had to make an exception -- because, well, it is exceptional, in a kitsch sort of a way.