History of erotic photography 1440907 215060500 2008-05-26T15:02:43Z Delicious carbuncle 6189844 Reverted 2 edits by [[Special:Contributions/212.1.100.234|212.1.100.234]]; Rm link per [[WP:EL]]. {{expand|article|date=February 2007}} '''Erotic photography''' is a style of [[art photography]] of an [[erotic]], sexually suggestive and even sexually provocative nature. Though the subjects of erotic photography are usually completely or mostly [[nudity|unclothed]], that is not a requirement. Erotic photography should be distinguished from [[pornographic photography]], which is of a sexually explicit nature. In the [[United States]], all portraits from prior to [[January 1]], [[1923]], have passed into the [[public domain]]. Most are in black-and-white, since they predate the [[1935]] invention of [[Kodachrome]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.otal.umd.edu/~vg/amst205.S97/vj19/Project5-3.html | title=Important Kodak Milestones(1935-1945 | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. (However, some color photographs exist which may date back as early as 1861 but were mostly experimental and not used seriously for erotic photography. See [[James Clerk Maxwell]] for early color photography.) ==Beginnings== [[Nude pictures]] prior to [[1835]] generally consisted of paintings and drawings. That year, [[Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre]] invented the first practical process of photography<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/photos/chron.html | title=Nineteenth-Century Photography: A Timeline | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. Unlike earlier photographs, his [[daguerreotype]]s had stunning quality and did not fade with time. The new technology did not go unnoticed by artists eager for new ways to depict the undraped feminine form. In ''[[Nude photography]], 1840–1920'', Peter Marshall notes: "In the prevailing moral climate at the time of the invention of photography, the only officially sanctioned photography of the body was for the production of artist's studies. Many of the surviving examples of daguerreotypes are clearly not in this genre but have a sensuality that clearly implies they were designed as [[erotic]] or [[pornographic]] images".<ref name="about1">{{cite web |url = http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa013100a.htm |title = Nude photography, 1840-1920, Part 1: The Body |last = Marshall |first = Peter |authorlink = Peter Marshall |work = About: Photography |publisher = The New York Times Company |pages = |language = |doi = |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070218141330/http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa013100a.htm |archivedate = 2007-02-18 |quote = }}</ref> The daguerreotypes were not without drawbacks, however. The main difficulty was that they could only be reproduced by photographing the original picture. In addition, the earliest daguerreotypes had exposure times ranging from three to fifteen minutes, making them somewhat impractical for portraiture. Since one picture could cost a week's salary, the audience for [[nudes]] mostly consisted of artists and the upper echelon of society<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lisaskirts.com/MaleSubs_V.htm | title=LisaSkirts.com | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. [[Nude]] [[stereoscopy]] began in [[1838]] and became extremely popular. In [[1841]], [[William Fox Talbot]] patented the [[calotype]] process, the first negative-positive process, making possible multiple copies<ref>{{cite web | url=http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.html | title=The Calotype Process | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. The technology was immediately employed to reproduce nude portraits. ==French influence== [[Image:Vint3.jpg|thumb|right|225px|French postcard, circa 1860.]] The French pioneered erotic photography, producing nude [[postcards]] that became the subject of an officer's letter to President [[Abraham Lincoln]] after they were found in the possession of U.S. troops, according to ''An Underground Education'' by Richard Zacks. ''A Brief History of Postcards'' explains, "A majority of the French nude postcards were called postcards because of the size. They were never meant to be postally sent. It was illegal"<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tallulahs.com/cd3q1.html | title=Postcard Facts Page | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. Instead, nudes were marketed in a monthly magazine called "La Beaute" that targeted artists looking for poses. Each issue contained 75 nude images which could be ordered by mail, in the form of postcards, hand-tinted or sepia toned. Street dealers, tobacco shops, and a variety of other vendors bought the photographs for resale to American tourists. ==Early 20th century== [[Image:Bellocq Storyville undamaged.jpg|thumb|right|225px|The warm relationship Bellocq had with his sitters is reflected in their seeming lack of self-consciousness.]] The early 1900s saw several important improvements in camera design, including the [[1913]] invention of the 35-mm or "candid" camera by [[Oskar Barnack]] of the [[Ernst Leitz]] company. The [[Ur-Leica]] was a compact camera based on the idea of reducing the format of negatives and enlarging them later, after they had been exposed. This small, portable device made nude photography in secluded parks and other semi-public places easier, and represented a great advance for amateur erotica. Artists were enamored with their new ability to take impromptu photos without carrying around a clunky apparatus. Early 20th century artist [[E. J. Bellocq]], who made his best known images with the older style glass plate negatives, is best remembered for his down-to-earth pictures of [[prostitute]]s in domestic settings in the [[Storyville]] red light district of [[New Orleans]]. In contrast to the usual pictures of women awkwardly posed amid drapery, veils, flowers, fruit, classical columns and oriental braziers, Bellocq's sitters appear relaxed and comfortable. David Steinberg speculates that the prostitutes may have felt at ease with Bellocq because he was "so much of a fellow outcast". [[Julian Mandel]] became known in the 1920s and 1930s for his exceptional photographs of the female form. Participating in the German "new age outdoor movement," Mandel took numerous pictures in natural settings, publishing them through the Paris-based studios of A. Noyer and PC Paris<ref>{{cite web | url=http://tallulahs.com/collectors1b.html | title=Tallulahs Classical Nude Poses; Classical Nude Poses of Julian Mandel | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. A [[Johns Hopkins University]] scholarship was named in his honor. Another noteworthy nude photographer of the first two decades of the 20th century was [[Arundel Holmes Nicholls]]. His work, featured in the archives of the [[Kinsey Institute]], is artistically composed, often giving an iridescent glow to his figures <ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bigkugels.com/content/FemaleNudes.html#Arundel | title=Vintage Female Nude Photography from BigKugels.com | accessdate=2006-10-05}}</ref>. Following in Mandel's footsteps, Nicholls favored outdoor shots. Many photographs from this era are damaged; Bellocq, for instance, frequently scratched out the faces of his sitters to obscure their identities. Some of his other sitters were photographed wearing masks. Peter Marshall writes, "Even in the relatively bohemian atmosphere of Carmel, California in the 1920s and 30s, [[Edward Weston]] had to photograph many of his models without showing their faces, and some 75 years on, many communities are less open about such things than Carmel was then."<ref name="about3">{{cite web |url = http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa032403c.htm |title = Nude 101: A Beginners Guide to Nude Photography, Part 3: Finding Models |last = Marshall |first = Peter |authorlink = Peter Marshall |work = About: Photography |publisher = The New York Times Company |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070604053329/http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa032403c.htm |archivedate = 2007-06-04 |quote = }}</ref> == See also == * [[History of erotic depictions]] * [[Glamour photography]] * [[Erotic art]] * [[List of photographers known for portraying males erotically|The erotic male in photography]] * [[Grigori Galitsin]] == References == [[Image:Vint13.jpg|thumb|right|225px|19th century nude photographs featured the ideal body of the time, frequently with trimmed pubic hair.]] {{Reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.bigkugels.com/content/FemaleNudes.html#Arundel Arundel Holmes Nicholls: Female Nudes] * [http://www.tallulahs.com/cd3q1.html A Brief French History of Postcards] * [http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/hillandadamson/calo.html The Calotype Process, University of Glasgow] * [http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/photos/chron.html Nineteenth-Century Photography: A Timeline] * [http://www.otal.umd.edu/~vg/amst205.S97/vj19/Project5-3.html Important Kodak Milestones (1935–1945), The Kodak Still Cameras] * [http://www.oldstratforduponavon.com/erotic A Collection of Old Postcards of early 20th Century Nudes] {{photography subject}} [[Category:Erotic photography| ]] [[de:Erotische Fotografie]] [[ja:ヌード写真]]