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.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

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.)

Boob McNutt

Along with creating Boob McNutt, Rube Goldberg co-founded the National Cartoonists' Society in 1945, becoming the group's first president. The prestigious "Rueben Awards" are named after him.

Images via Cagle's comic sheet music gallery.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Eve Arnold: Master Photographer & Living Legend

Eve Arnold is most famous for her intimate photos of Marilyn Monroe...



But there's so much more to the master photographer's portfolio & talent.

Deanna on Eve Arnold's photographs:

If the mark of a really good novel is that you think of the characters long after the book ends, then photographs of people ought to do the same. Eve Arnold’s photos do that. Even if you think you know the people in the portraits.

And when you don’t know the people in the photographs? You long to…

I agree that the photos of "unknows" are even more amazing -- or is it that I am, like Deanna, intrigued by what I do not know...

In fact, if I have one complaint about Arnold’s works, it’s that I can’t find out enough. I know that photographers believe that a photo is worth a thousand words, but often they do not seem to document the details which I long to know… A perpetual problem for me, I know; but still, why can’t I find out more about Charlotte Stribling aka ‘Fabulous’? Or Girl Holding Head, Insane Asylum, Haiti 1954?

I'd love to find out more about Lesbian Wedding celebration, England 1965.


Then again, Angelica Huston is showing off her panties to her dad seems worthy of an explanation...



Arnold currently has an exhibit at the David Gallery.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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).

Stripping Girls

In 1998, photographer Anton Corbijn & artist Marlene Dumas joined forces for an exhibit in 2000 called Strippinggirls, and this is what the photographer had to say about it:

I was determined NOT to make a journalistic, documentary kind of photography. Nor was I out to create glamorous images - there are already so many around. Instead I wanted to try out some new things that I have been playing with recently and I figured that some would go quite well with this project. First the idea that striptease could have some of the attraction for people that the old freak shows used to have. I ended up using computer manipulation - making tiny changes so that you really gave to look for them, close-up like in a peepshow. Then the 4-letter words; in England these usually gave sexual connotations, so I used 4-letter words for feelings that the strippers might gave rather than the viewers, albeit a little ambiguously. Next were the very normal portrait photos of 5 girls, shot outdoors in Amsterdam; displaying the information regarding their profession might make you look at them differently. No discussion was intended about comparisons between painting and photography - I personally was merely interested to see how someone else tackles the same subject, under the same circumstances, albeit with different tools. The main difference in working seems to be that I struggle more at the start of the project (the shoot) and Marlene more in the latter phase of it (the actual painting). That is a pretty mundane observation which would seem obvious from the start anyway. Shooting next to Marlene brought out some anxieties - when looking at her polaroid's I was sure her way of shooting was far superior to mine, which was an interesting aspect I discovered in myself - I am worried about comparisons in the same discipline but not at all in a different medium. This kind of unease never lasted long, it was my uncertainty as it concerned shooting a subject unknown to me, a contrast with my day work. I adore Marlene's work and would swap my photographs for her paintings any time, but not because I necessarily think they would be better or compare them that way with my work, it is just because I love painting, and I believe that deep down I am a frustrated painter. The only envy there is one which is based on the freedom in time, the delay of a decisive moment, and the independence from reality that Marlene has to create. But if anything I think that this project brought me (as a person) closer to my own work.

These are a few of Corbijn's photos from that project.

The peep-shows:




The four-letter words:




The portraits:




A catalogue of the museum show can be found on the photographer's website, where he writes:

It is not a documentary or a comparison between the two artforms but just two people tackling the same subject in different ways. The way we operated was to always go together to meet and photograph the girls and then work it out in our own ways afterwards. All the work was done in Amsterdam between late 1998 and spring 2000. I have used three different methods of approach with 5 works for each direction and Marlene has 15 paintings in total as well. I enjoyed the collaboration enormously.

Found via Sexuality In Art; more photos at the LipanjePuntin Contemporary Art Gallery.

Warhol and the Film Factory

Facets Multi-Media, Inc., a non-profit media arts organization located in Chicago, recently had a week long Andy Warhol film retrospective and you can catch clips of Andy Warhol at their blog.

That's where I found this gem:



While Warhol says virtually nothing (and is rather cute in his smug silence), I blame the interviewer for asking simple "yes or no" questions. You'll never get anywhere with those.

UPDATE (later same day): Thanks, Mark for posting this at Boing Boing! (BoingBoingers, check out the rest of the blog!)

Playboy : Not Just For The Articles

Cartoonist Mike Lynch only reads Playboy for the cartoons -- and the ads. Well, at least that's what he tells people.



Via The Marketing Whore.

Info On Collecting Vintage Risque Items

Over at CQ:

A review of Classic Images magazine.

And did you know that famed horse illustrator/author C.W. Anderson did risque works too?

This Just In: I'm A Vulgar Broad

Typically in my business the question is, "Porn or Art?" but today the question is "Vulgarism or Art?"

Titled: "Struggling Will Only Make It Worse"

According to David Report, which claims to be knowledgeable on "the intersection of design, culture and business life", this is Vulgarism.

Our opinion is that the last couple of years have been poor in offering interesting and clever design. The kind of design that really makes a difference.

...An adequate question to highlight is if we should call it design, art or design-art or if we have to invent a new category and word for these experiments. Some people call it neo-surrealism or expressionism-design, but we would prefer to refer to it as Vulgarism.

(So much for the "creative and humanistic approach" at the David Report.)

"We’re hoping he’ll grow out of it" from the Noir Collection by Barnaby Barford.

While the David Report and the round-up of experts find this design trend crass and kitsch, I saw the images used to illustrate Vulgarism as a shopping list. Sure, the lack of image credits made it more difficult, but all I needed was the words 'Barnaby' and 'chandelier' and I was in business. From there I was able to find heaven -- the website of artist Barnaby Barford (who, by the way, I would not throw out of bed for eating crackers -- and not just for his artistic ability either, he's hot).


According to the site with the sexy photos of the artist, he:

re-assemble pieces of a historic and modern ‘kitsch’ production and put them as artwork into a new context. those pieces often possess a dark sense of humour. in barnaby’s work the titles are an important part of it, making an inroad to the piece and sometimes giving a totally unexpected viewpoint. the ceramic or porcellain pieces by barnaby barford are made by either painting on or cutting up the found figurines and re-assembling them together providing a clever way of getting people to look again at something they would on principle have dismissed. the way they are put together forces you to look at the figures and the scene in a slightly disrupted way. a new conglomerate is the result, a reworking of tradition that leaves it recognisable but witty, ... edited.

I agree, the titles of the works add to the overall appeal of the works.

"Oh, I thought it would be bigger"

(I do so enjoy a bit of humor with my body parts -- Barford's growing sexier by the minute!)

Title: "Mum! The cat's doing that thing again"

Barford's works have been shown in Domestic Deities:The Figurine in Art, a group exhibit at the Clark Garth Gallery:

Domestic Deities: The Figurine in Art examines this fascinating niche-genre within figurative sculpture today, exploring conflicting values in class and aesthetics. Porcelain figurines from the 18th century provided a domesticated figurative sculpture for the court at the hands of gifted sculptors like Meissen's Johann Joachim Kändler and Nymphenburg's Franz Anton Bustelli. They were costly objects, crafted with exquisite detail and care. By comparison, the figurine today, with a few high-end exceptions like the sugary but svelte works from Lladro, has become populist; a dime-store product, cloying and sentimental expression of kitsch. Collections of antique figurines are valued and reflect discernment, but contemporary figurines, often produced by Disney and others as promotional devices, are dismissed as poor taste. It is exactly this contrasting polarity between the palace and the cottage, between refinement and vulgarity, between respectability and dismissal that makes this genre such a rich human landscape to explore, satirize and transform.

Front and back of "I wish I were Hugh Hefner."

Hasn't virtually every form of 'new' art been questioned, called vulgar? From painting to ballet, it's all been called that -- and worse.

Vulgar or not, I want.

Anatomy of a Pin-Up Photo

What's perhaps most interesting about this work by Annie Sprinkle is that last line (bottom right), which reads:

(In spite of it all, I'm sexually excited and feeling great!)

This piece is in Xxxooo: Love And Kisses From Annie Sprinkle (30 Post-Porn Postcards), by Annie Sprinkle, and is in The Body: Photographs of the Human Form, edited by William Ewing.

Bataille and Bellmer: The Eyes Have It

I stumbled into JorgeRueda and was fascinated by the art shown.



I couldn't understand most of it, but I know what I like! So I turned to Google and did some research on the names.

Turns out these wicked erotic eye sketches are the work of Hans Bellmer, and were used in 1946 to illustrate Histoire de L'oeil, intaglio, a translation of Story of the Eye.



Story of the Eye was credited to Lord Auch, a pseudonym of Georges Bataille's. Story of the Eye was Bataille's first novel, published in 1928. There were four editions, the first in 1928 and three others, known as the "new version" because it is so very different from the first, came out in 1940, 1941, and 1967.

Here's a bit of Part One, The Tale, Chapter One: The Cat's Eye:

I grew up very much alone, and as far back as I recall I was frightened of anything sexual. I was nearly sixteen when I met Simone, a girl my own age, at the beach in X. Our families being distantly related, we quickly grew intimate. Three days after our first meeting, Simone and I were alone in her villa. She was wearing a black pinafore with a starched white collar. I began realizing that she shared my anxiety at seeing her, and I felt even more anxious that day because I hoped she would be stark naked under the pinafore.

She had black silk stockings on covering her knees, but I was unable to see as far up as the cunt (this name, which I always used with Simone, is, I think, by far the loveliest of the names for the vagina). It merely struck me that by slightly lifting the pinafore from behind, I might see her private parts unveiled.

Now in the corner of a hallway there was a saucer of milk for the cat. "Milk is for the pussy, isn't it?" said Simone. "Do you dare me to sit in the saucer?"

"I dare you," I answered, almost breathless. The day was extremely hot. Simone put the saucer on a small bench, planted herself before me, and, with her eyes fixed on me, she sat down without my being able to see her burning buttocks under the skirt, dipping into the cool milk. The blood shot to my head, and I stood before her awhile, immobile and trembling, as she eyed my stiff cock bulging in my pants. Then I lay down at her feet without her stirring, and for the first time, I saw her "pink and dark" flesh cooling in the white milk. We remained motionless, on and on, both of us equally overwhelmed ....

Suddenly, she got up, and I saw the milk dripping down her thighs to the stockings. She wiped herself evenly with a handkerchief as she stood over my head with one foot on the small bench, and I vigorously rubbed my cock through the pants while writhing amorously on the floor. We reached orgasm at almost the same instant without even touching one another. But when her mother came home, I was sitting in a low armchair, and I took advantage of the moment when the girl tenderly snuggled in her mother's arms: I lifted the back of her pinafore, unseen, and thrust my hand under her cunt between her two burning legs.

I dashed home, eager to jerk off some more, and the next day there were such dark rings around my eyes that Simone, after peering at me for a while, buried her head in my shoulder and said earnestly: "I don't want you to jerk off anymore without me."

(You can -- and should -- go here to read the rest.)

Here, an Extract from Georges Bataille's Eroticism:

As often as not, it seems to be assumed that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm, on the other hand, that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions...

...We are discontinuous beings, individuals who perish in isolation in the midst of an incomprehensible adventure, but we yearn for our lost continuity. We find the state of affairs that binds us to our random and ephemeral individuality hard to bear. Along with our tormenting desire that this evanescent thing should last, there stands our obsession with a primal continuity linking us with everything that is... this nostalgia is responsible for... eroticism in man.

If you're like me, you're going to look for books by Georges Bataille.

Both Georges Bataille and Hans Bellmer will likely appear here again. *wink*

Erich von Gotha, Erotic Artist

Erich von Götha (aka Erich von Götha de la Rosière) is the pseudonym of the British illustrator and comic book artist Robin Ray. (Ray has also worked under the pseudonyms Janssens, Baldur Grimm and Robbins.) Robin Ray or Erich vonGotha, the artist has gained fame with his erotic works most of all that with sadomasochist themes.

As Gotha, he contributed to early editions of Dr. Tuppy Owens' The Sex Maniac's Diary. And then he went on to produce his own ground-breaking magazine, Torrid.




There were only 16 issues of Torrid (circa 1980's), but they not only had a cult-like following but have become hot collectibles today.

Other publications from Gotha include The Troubles of Janice Part (three parts), A Very Special Prison, Twenty (two volumes so far), and The Insatiable Curiousity of Sophie.



Erich Von Gotha's show, Twenty Chastis'd, May 5 - June 5 2007, is at the Mondo Bizzarro gallery in Rome. Here's what the gallery has to say about the artist:

Erich Von Gotha belongs firmly to the second category. Despite having worked as an artist for well over twenty years he has only just begun to give interviews.

However, besides taking delight in mistery (for many years he was obsessed by the treasures hidden by the Templar Knights) it is also important to point out that he lives in puritan England, a country with censorship laws so strict that they do not allow any of his books to be published. His works are translated and read throughout the world, apart from in his country. Erich Von Gotha is one of the greatest erotic and English comic strip artists ever.

You can also see more at the artist's own site, Erich von Gotha dot com.

Weird Cults, BDSM and Vintage Sci-Fi (aka Of Brundage and Bondage)

Once again, ptupper72 at Beauty In Darkness is intriguing me... This time with Ancient Mystery Cults.

This is from Part One:

A mystery cult or mystery religion is what might be called a boutique religion. Instead of being a total institution one is born into, people are voluntarily and optionally initiated into them. It was also possible to be a member or even an officiant of multiple cults.

Mystery cults have initiation rituals, and initiation seems to be the main point of them, for their own sake. Victor Turner distinguished between liminal rituals, which result in significant and permanent changes in status (e.g. weddings, graduations), and liminoid rituals, which don't have a permanent change in status (e.g. BDSM scenes, in my opinion).

And this is a quote from Ancient Mystery Cults by Walter Burkert, as quoted in Ancient Mystery Cults Part Two, on the subject of flagellation as (possibly) depicted in the mural at the Villa of the Mysteries:

A kneeling girl, keeping her head in the lap of a seated woman and shutting her eyes, the seated woman grasping her hands and drawing back the garment from the kneeling girl's bare back, while a sinister-looking female behind is raising a rod -- these are all quite realistic details of caning. But the threatening figure wielding the rode has black wings; she is not from this world but rather an allegorical personality.

Image of Weird Tales via Gloria Brame, and one of her readers comments, "The cover illustration is by Margret Brundage, who did most of the vintage Weird Tales covers of the 'thirties. Her covers often featured naked or nearly nude women in bondage."

For more on Margaret Brundage, see this interview with her in 1973.

Objects of Desire: Product Poster Masterpieces

International Poster Gallery announces "Objects of Desire: Product Poster Masterpieces", an exhibition that traces the numerous ways in which poster artists have made products and brands irresistible to the public since the 1890s.

"'Objects of Desire' is one of the most fun shows we've ever presented, but also one of the most thought provoking," comments gallery president Jim Lapides.

"It is a subject that graphic designers and advertisers have grappled with forever – how to make products sell through the right combination of word and image posted on a wall. Along with many classics, the show is full of unusual surprises from every corner of the globe."

Shown here are The Pet of the Halls from Yankee Girls Abroad, 1900, by James Montgomery Flagg (above) and Adolfo Hohenstein's Fiammiferi Senza Fosforo, circa 1900.

The show, which is free and open to the public, runs through Memorial Day, May 28, 2007 and is located at 205 Newbury Street in Boston. See internationalposter.com for information.

Shibari

Shibari is a Japanese style of bondage involving tying up the bottom in intricate patterns, usually with several pieces of thin rope which not only restrains the bottom, but provides the bottom pleasure from the pressure and strain of the ropes.

It's also an art form. And photographer Lee "Bridgett" Harrington likes to give classes on the subject, including Erotic Macramé Classes.

In an interview regarding the workshops, Harrington said:

Suffice it to say that shibari derived from rope restraints used on Japanese prisoners of war. "How it evolved into an erotic art, we're not quite sure, since the only earlier documentation we have are erotic woodcuts from the 1700s," she said.

You can find out more about the artist/performer/educator at Passion and Soul, in her blog, and see more photos at her website, RopeLover.com, and Black Book Art.

Memo to self: Must meet Lee "Bridgett" Harrington.

Erotic Art in the Arab World -- Today

Two women painters show images of fetishism, homosexuality, masturbation in Beirut art show:

Artists Nayla Karam and Maria Sarkis are displaying their Warhol-like pop art in a joint exhibition at a gallery in the Lebanese capital's northern Christian suburbs.

In "Auto-eroticism" for example, Sarkis presents a sensual depiction in green and pink of a woman who may be masturbating, a hand under her panties.

In yet brighter colours but smooth lines, another painting called "The Mirror" shows a close encounter between the faces and breasts of two apparent lesbians.

"I've been working on the theme of eroticism for a year. The 'morally correct' is a relative question which changes with time," Sarkis said.

The fine arts graduate from the Lebanese University, who is in her twenties, said: "In the 19th century (French artist) Gustave Courbet was banned from the universal exhibition of 1855.

"Today, he is considered one of the great masters of the Realist movement," she added, referring to Courbet's "The Origin of the World" which shocked many people of the time with its graphic depiction of female genitalia.

These women face more than the issue of 'Time' and its passing to make themselves and their art more acceptable:

Leon Khanamirian, a 25-year-old banker, said that "in the Middle East, men are allowed to express their sexual fantasies in a vulgar manner, but when (women) artists paint sexuality, it suddenly becomes a scandal."

Hassan Mekdad, 52, called the paintings shocking, however.

"The artists would have been killed if they lived in an Islamic neighbourhood," he said.

Satyr & Nymph Playboy Comics

I remember these "Satyr & Nymph" comics from my parents' hidden Playboys...



They are by Eldon Dedini, and you can find out more Pinups: Eldon Dedini's Satyrs and Nymphs at Animation Archive.

Crafting Answers To The Madonna-Whore Complex

An interview with Whitney Lee, the textile artist of Made With Sweet Love:

Like the rest of us kids who made latch hook rugs, you grew up. You're now in your late 20's, a professional photographer, but you came back to the rugs. What made you take on the images, the issues, with the rugs?

360 Degree Spin Rugs by Whitney Lee Like it says in my bio, I am the product of piles of women’s studies and feminist art classes. I can look at almost any image of a woman (especially one from a magazine!) and tell you how she is being objectified, how the lighting, pose, make-up, and airbrush are giving the model a look that is impossible to achieve, and how that makes real women constantly feel physically inadequate. I can talk about 'male gaze' and how images of sexy women make it seem like the entire female gender is one-dimensional and simply waiting for sex.

If you wanted to encourage public conversations about beauty from a feminist point of view why not use your profession, photography? Why use the rugs?

As a handmade artworks the rugs are to provoke a reaction against mass-production and consumerism, and I was interested in pointing out the dichotomy between a crafty, 'motherly' type woman and a sexually confident 'slutty' woman. In our society it is nearly impossible for a woman to be both types, but the two should be -- do -- coexist.

Toulouse and Too Loose

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and nude woman looking at paintings:



Notice how natural her body looks.

The Paintings of Alice B. Sheldon

After reading this review of James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, I ordered the book -- and I just finished it. An amazing book, an amazing life.

Curious about her earlier years, I've been searching Google and today I bring you this extraordinary woman's art.

Few of Alli's works exist on the web. These I found at the biographer, Julie Phillips' site. (One imagines that since I'm having difficulty locating Tiptree works at the thrift stores -- where I am normally quite lucky with old paperbacks -- that the art must be under lock and key. And for good reason.


In 1939, Alice (then Alice Davey) submitted a nude self-portrait to an exhibition of American painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. This photo is from the show's catalog.

This next one I love the most, and not just for the nude woman either ;)


I love the lines, the darkness of it all. There's something tortured, yet warm about it. According to Phillips this watercolor is part of a series in which one of the others depicts soldiers marching beneath a monstrous caricature of Hitler.

I continue to search for and read more Tiptree Jr, et all. Of course, I shall post where I've consumed more ;)

More Than Prurient Interest Art

In Erotic Art Becoming Mainstream? artist Genevive Zacconi says:

"I do not fall neatly into a genre," she says. "Some of my work is erotic and people say, 'Oh, there's a hot girl.' But I mean to make you think about the psychology behind sex. You are meant to talk about the chemistry between men and women, the social games we play. So yes, I have been called an erotic artist and that is true, but I am not always making paintings that are supposed to get you turned on. I want to get you thinking."

Shown here is one of her works -- it sure seems more 'thinky' than 'erotic' to me.

You can see more of Zacconi's works here.

Zacconi is also co-owner of the Trinity Gallery in Philadelphia, and while (not all of) her art is erotic, her gallery hostess, Ryan sure is. (Shown here on the left, with the tray; gallery director Genevive Zacconi and assistant Robin on the right. Center is a work by Fred Harper.)



In a quasi-related article, Erick Janssen, an associate scientist at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, says that at its core, there's nothing wrong with erotica:

"In itself, sexuality isn't a bad thing nor are depictions of sexuality," he said by phone from his Indiana office this week. "It's not a simple discussion."

There's plenty of pornography that Janssen disapproves of - violent images, for example, or what he called a "no-brainer," anything involving children - but to lump all erotica together or dismiss it out of hand is misguided, he suggested.

In the past few years I've often wondered why Kinsey has been so silent... These times call for the voice of reason & enlightenment.

At least their planning their Second Annual Kinsey Institute Juried Erotic Art Show on the University of Indiana campus. The show starts on the 13th of this month and runs through July 20th. (I might be able to get to that even.)

You Just Wanted To Wrestle

"Don't talk to me -- You said you just wanted to wrestle."

I'm not sure, but I think this vintage postcard may be an error print... Not that it matters for the reasons I'm showing it here -- that's for the giggle. But I thought I'd point it out anyway.

The front credits the art to Michael Angelo, with copyright 1949 Dennis Delger, but the back says, "From an original etching by Wm. Standing. Noted Indian Artist."

I couldn't find any references to Angelo and Standing other than other copies of this postcard for sale, and the style doesn't seem in line with Standing's usual works. (I'm not suggesting the artist would be incapable of such whimsy, just noting that it is more cartoon like than the works I've seen -- including his sketches. I am no expert here.)

I find moments like this intriguing. As a collector I often find myself side-tracked into researching something or someone that I've never heard of before -- or wanting to know more than I do -- simply because of an object. While the Internet can be a helpful tool, I'm still so very surprised when there's nothing on Google. If it's not in Google, can it really exist? It must, for it's in my hand...

The temptation might be to think you have something very rare, simply because it's 'nowhere to be found.' But that's a puzzling thing because most of my junk isn't so rare... For example, this postcard is from 1949, not 1849, and isn't all that rare. If this postcard isn't rare, then why hasn't anyone else posted about the Michael Angelo/Wm Standing connection?

I have so many stories like this, where what I think will be simple research simply isn't. (Neither simple nor existing.) I must admit here that this can only make me more obsessive. I've wasted hours, days, on trying to find answers to simple things like this. To no avail.

Sometimes my husband rolls his eyes when I'm two hours into such a search (not that he should, he's nearly as likely to do so for his things) wondering if I've lost my mind (at least I acknowledge that sometimes I've lost my priorities for a day or two). But he's partly to blame: he took me to the auction, the estate sale, the flea market etc. Like the snarky feline on this postcard I speak over my shoulder, "Don't talk to me -- you said you just wanted to bid on some stuff."

We both knew what would happen if we did. ;)

I don't think I'm alone here in my urge to quest. Most collectors' purpose or interest surpasses just questing for the objects and goes to the larger picture or context of the object itself.

In the scheme of things, this little innuendo postcard isn't important. On its own it's amusing and I'd like to keep it -- and when added to the rest of my risque-to-naughty collection, it sure provides a fuller picture of things. But the matter of who drew it isn't as important to all of that. At least not to my collection's story. But I just like to know...

And as a collector, I know these details are part of its value; the whole collection's value.

So, if you know anything, let me know.

It's number 45 in a series by Western Stationary Co., Yachats, Oregon, if that helps...

Vintage BBW Pinup Art

Slip of a Girl turned me onto these...



Hilda, the vintage BBW pin-up girl, is from artist Duane Bryers.

Erotica Art Fridays with Gloria

Every Friday is Erotic Art Friday at Gloria Brame's blog.

From Picasso to naughty silver spoons, from historic sketches to pop culture comics, from modern art to antique pocket watches, Gloria covers it all each Friday.

Liz Renay

Liz Renay has passed away:

"Liz Renay, who in her R-rated lifetime was an actress, author, artist, stripper and convicted felon, died Monday night at Valley Hospital of complications after a lengthy recovery from a fall."

Actor, painter, gangster moll, stripper, publicity hound, great-grandmother, Liz can't be accused of not living life.

An interview with Liz can be found at Velvet Hammer Burlesque.

For an amusing look at Liz's life, especially as an actress and painter, read this John Waters interview. (John doesn't spare feelings, like his comments on Candy Barr).

You can also read her autobiography, "My Face for the World to See", which was reprinted in 2002, and My First 2,000 Men.

Her death prompted fellow burlesque dancer Satan's Angel to write:

A woman of many trades she was... I was so honored to meet her once again, at the Miss Exotic World Pageant in 2006. Talk about a great show! Being carried on stage to the music of Cleopatra, the one staring Liz Taylor, on a beautiful throne, by four beautiful muscle men, all draped in gold lame, jewels and beauty. It was a fabulous act! Because you see she was confined to a wheel chair, her health wasn't good. But she was a true performer, the show must go on. And what a show!

God bless you, Liz. There is no more pain, God has you now.

Your friend always,
Satan's Angel

Angel also wrote this reminder:

I keep telling all you people out there, this is what "Legend" means... Old, older, and really old. So get us while you can! Learn, absorb, come to our shows and classes. We won't be here forever.

Check here for the latest word on Satan's Angel's book.

(Click photos -- they lead to more information!)

Earl Moran Photos

Earl Moran creates an original pastel; his wife Gloria models. 1950



Double Vision, by Earl Moran.



Ellisa Winston, 1939 Miss Empire State, also by Earl Moran.



Zoe Mozert photographed herself, using triple mirrors to get the right angle.

Jules Erbit Pinup

From my personal collection comes this nude pinup by Jules Erbit.

This lovely redhead is perched on a rock, with water at her feet and holds a shell to her ear.

I also have this print by Erbit.

Nudes and even bathing suit pinups are rather rare by Erbit. He specialized in more seemingly sedate but still sensual works, which you can see in this pinup gallery.

For more pin ups by Erbit, check here.

Collecting Peter Arno's Works

Peter Arno perfected the single speaker captioned cartoon, is the father of the gag cartoon, and is a master illustrator.

His cartoons may not be what you think of as far as the Golden Age of Comics, but his use of humor to make editorial statements about society certainly gives him a place in the Golden Age of satirical art. And let's not forget that his depictions of voluptuous women being pursued by lecherous men are not only a wonderful treat for the eyes, but broke ground for the cartoons and illustrations seen in Playboy today.

As a huge fan of Peter Arno's work, I naturally collect his works as I can.

I'm not going to write a bio for Arno because the definitive Peter Arno biography, including more art, is here. (Seriously the best anywhere.) But I will tell you collectors a bit more about where to find Arno's work.

In the mid-1930s cartoons and comic strips briefly dominated advertising. So, the work of Peter Arno appeared not only in The New Yorker as 'content', but also in the ads as well. This includes advertising in other magazines in the 1930s.



Arno even appeared in an ad for Angus Scotch whiskey.



Along with ads, his work appeared in anthologies, playbills etc. So there are plenty of places to look for Arno besides his books.

Just take a look at what a search for "Peter Arno" turns up at eBay!

His books though, are gems. Here's a list of Peter Arno's books:

Whoops, Dearie (1927)
Parade (1929)
Hullabaloo (1930)
Circus (1931)
Circus (London: The Bodley Head 1933)
Favorites (1932)
For Members Only (1935)
Cartoon Revue (1941)
Man in the Shower (1944)
The Bedside Tales (1945)
The Peter Arno Pocket Book (1946)
Sizzling Platter (1949)
Crepes Suzettes (1950)
Ladies and Gentlemen (1951)
The New Peter Arno Pocket Book (1955)
Hell of a Way to Run a Railroad (1956)
The Penguin (1957)
Lady in the Shower (1967)
Peter Arno (1979)

A note to collectors: as usual, books with dust jackets are rare, but this is especially true for 'Favorites'.

I recommend looking for Peter Arno's books at ABE; book dealers know what they are talking about as far as conditions.

Arno's work can also be found in Sketch Book of American Humorists (1938, and collectible for several reasons), College Humor (1937), Helena (1950, dustjacket illustrations for Evelyn Waugh), and The Bedsides Tales: A Gay Collection (1945, illustrations).

This list is by no means 'all'; if you have other titles or know of other works, please post them in the comments area!

Raphael Kirchner

Lovely art by Raphael Kirchner.

I just love this image with the doggie -- I have one who looks just like it!

I found the image digging around in the vintage newsgroups. There was no information, but with Kirchner's name on it, I am certain it was an old postcard.

I'm off to ebay to see if I can find the real postcard or print... But before I go, some info on Kirchner...

Raphael Kirchner was born in Vienna in 1876 and attended the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in the city. He went to Paris at the turn of the century, where he remained until the outbreak of war in August 1914. Then he moved to the United States.

Kirchner produced a wide variety of postcards in Europe, but is chiefly renowned for his erotic illustrations which are very much like more modern pin up girls. Kirchner's "Geisha" series was the most successful. It was reprinted four times, for a total of 40,000 copies.

While he produced in excess of 1,000 postcards during his short lifetime, his postcards cards are not commonly found in America because Kirchner died on August 2, 1917, (in New York) when was just 41 years old.

Collectors may still find Kirchner postcards. To help date them, use these tips:

* The earliest cards have undivided backs. They are also recognized by a strong art nouveau style and chromolithograph printing.

* The middle period always has the title of the individual postcard printed on the back, in French.

* The late period cards have the publisher's name on the front of the card. (Usually Burton or Alpha.)

Get Raphael Kirchner posters.

**Addition/Update**

I found it! But it's not cheap... poo

Peter Arno Print

"I'm lost, Farnsworth, without a pretty woman or a little animal of some kind!"

Peter Arno, circa 1929