19th century erotica
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 18:52, 20 September 2010 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 18:53, 20 September 2010 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) Next diff → |
||
| Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
| '''Algernon Charles Swinburne''' (April 5, 1837 – April 10, 1909) was a [[Victorian era]] [[English poet]]. His [[poetry]] was highly [[controversial]] in its day, much of it containing recurring themes of [[sadomasochism]], [[death-wish]], [[lesbian]]ism and [[irreligion]]. Swinburne is considered a ''[[Decadent movement|decadent]]'' poet, although he perhaps professed to more vice than he actually indulged in, a fact which [[Oscar Wilde]] famously and acerbically commented upon, stating that Swinburne was "a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestializer." | '''Algernon Charles Swinburne''' (April 5, 1837 – April 10, 1909) was a [[Victorian era]] [[English poet]]. His [[poetry]] was highly [[controversial]] in its day, much of it containing recurring themes of [[sadomasochism]], [[death-wish]], [[lesbian]]ism and [[irreligion]]. Swinburne is considered a ''[[Decadent movement|decadent]]'' poet, although he perhaps professed to more vice than he actually indulged in, a fact which [[Oscar Wilde]] famously and acerbically commented upon, stating that Swinburne was "a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestializer." | ||
| + | |||
| + | '''Oscar Wilde''' (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an [[Irish playwright]], [[novelist]], [[Irish poetry|poet]], and [[short story]] writer primarily known for his novel ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray]]''. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of [[hard labour]] after being convicted of the offence of "[[gross indecency]]". The scholar [[H. Montgomery Hyde]] suggests this term implies [[homosexuality|homosexual]] acts not amounting to [[buggery]] in British legislation of the time. | ||
| + | |||
| ===Towards modern sexology=== | ===Towards modern sexology=== | ||
| :''[[Havelock Ellis]], [[history of sexology]]'' | :''[[Havelock Ellis]], [[history of sexology]]'' | ||
Revision as of 18:53, 20 September 2010
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The early part of the nineteenth century was noted by an abscence of both erotic art and erotic literature, generally ascribed to the Neoclassical prudery. In se, eroticism in the 19th century starts in the second half of the century.
On a technical level, the century saw the further proliferation of mass produced texts and illustrations. Added to this mix was the new medium of photography, which begot erotic photography shortly afterwards and which led to developments such as erotic postcards.
Some artists both belong to the 18th and 19th centuries. Such cases are Casanova (1725 – 1798, but his work was not published until the 19th C), Marquis de Sade (1740 – 1814) Henry Fuseli (1741 - 1825), Goya (1746 – 1828) and Canova (1757 - 1822). Some art movements were only discovered in the West during the 19th century such as Japanese erotic prints.
On a general moral level, the century was scandalized when Naturalist Darwin implied that humans were descendant from primates. Richard Francis Burton continues the work of sexual anthropologists.
With the arrival of Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism and the Decadent movement, Ovid is forgotten.
Contents |
England
The 19th century in Great Britain largely coincides with the Victorian era and its prudery, now known as Victorian morality. There was a thriving pornographic market centered in London at Holywell Street, curbed in 1857 by the first Obscene Publications Act.
Theresa Berkley and "Le vice Anglais"
Theresa Berkley (died September 1836) was a 19th century British dominatrix who ran a brothel in at 28 Charlotte Street, just to the north of Soho, London specialising in flagellation. She is notable as the inventor of the Berkley Horse, a piece of BDSM apparatus. England was quite known for its preference for sadomasochist erotica, referred to as Le vice Anglais.
First collectors
Frederick Hankey (1823, Corfu, Greece - 1882) was a British bibliophile. Retiring from the military in 1840, Hankey moves to Paris where he indulges in his passion of erotic literature, particularly of the sadistic variety. Ashbee compared him to Marquis de Sade "without the intellect". Hankey supplied sado-masochistic erotica to Swinburne, Richard Burton and Richard Monckton Milnes.
Henry Spencer Ashbee (21 April 1834 – 29 July 1900) was a book collector, writer, and bibliographer, notorious for his massive, clandestine three volume bibliography of erotic literature written under the pseudonym of Pisanus Fraxi. His Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the first of his trilogy on erotic literature was privately printed in London in 1877. He is also presumed to be the author of My Secret Life.
Charles Carrington (11 November 1867 - 15 October 1921) was a leading British publisher of erotica in late-19th and early 20th century Europe, including flagellation novels that were illustrated by the illustrator Martin van Maële. Born Paul Harry Ferdinando in Bethnal Green, England, he published in Paris where he also managed a bookshop and for a short period of time moved his activities to Brussels. Carrington also published works of classical literature, including the first English translation of Aristophanes "Comedies," and books by famous authors such as Oscar Wilde and Anatole France, in order to hide his "undercover" erotica publications under a veil of legitimacy. Carrington died at St-Ivry, France.
Literature
Algernon Charles Swinburne (April 5, 1837 – April 10, 1909) was a Victorian era English poet. His poetry was highly controversial in its day, much of it containing recurring themes of sadomasochism, death-wish, lesbianism and irreligion. Swinburne is considered a decadent poet, although he perhaps professed to more vice than he actually indulged in, a fact which Oscar Wilde famously and acerbically commented upon, stating that Swinburne was "a braggart in matters of vice, who had done everything he could to convince his fellow citizens of his homosexuality and bestiality without being in the slightest degree a homosexual or a bestializer."
Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer primarily known for his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of hard labour after being convicted of the offence of "gross indecency". The scholar H. Montgomery Hyde suggests this term implies homosexual acts not amounting to buggery in British legislation of the time.
Towards modern sexology
Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 - 8 July 1939) was a British sexologist, physician, and social reformer, noted for his seven volume Studies in the Psychology of Sex and for his translation of Against the Grain by Joris-Karl Huysmans.
Visual arts
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 1872 – 16 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author of the Decadents, best known for his erotic illustrations. His emphasis of the erotic element is present in many of his drawings, but nowhere as boldly as in his illustrations for Lysistrata which were done for a privately printed edition at a time when he was totally out of favor with polite society. One of his last acts after converting to Catholicism was to plead with his publisher to "destroy all copies of Lysistrata and bad drawings...by all that is holy all obscene drawings." His publisher, Leonard Smithers, not only ignored Beardsley wishes, but continued to sell reproductions and outright forgeries of Beardsley's work.
William Etty (York 10 March 1787 – 13 November 1849) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of nudes, such as Standing Female Nude, Sleeping Nymph and Satyrs (1828) and one of Gyges of Lydia.
France
- 19th century French erotica, French can-can, Moulin Rouge, 19th century Paris, 19th century French literature, modern art
Key figures include Charles Baudelaire, Alfred Binet, Gustave Courbet, Achille Devéria, Théophile Gautier, Jules Gay, Edouard Manet, Octave Mirbeau, Alfred de Musset, Félicien Rops, Bénedict-Auguste Morel
Painting
- Ingres
- Félicien Rops
- Edouard Manet
- Gustave Courbet
- Achille Devéria
- Eugène le Poitevin
- Félix Vallotton
Literature
Printers of erotica in the late 1800s: Jules Gay, Henry Kistemaeckers, Auguste Poulet-Malassis, Isidore Liseux
- Gamiani
- Alcide Bonneau's translations
- Charles Carrington
- Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal
- Théophile Gautier
- Octave Mirbeau
- Alfred de Musset
- Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly
- Pierre Louÿs
- Alfred Binet
- French academic art
Germany
Towards modern sexology
Literature
Hungary
United States
Japan
The history of Japanese erotica goes back but was imported in Europe during the 19th century.
Discovery of Shunga in France, the Goncourts
- "Jeudi 2 avril — Après un morceau sur les erotiques japonais, ainsi qu'après tous les morceaux que je travaille un peu, il me semble ressentir comme une déperdition érébrale, comme un vide laissé dans ma tête par quelque chose qui en serait sorti, et aurait été pompé par le papier de la copie. --1891, Journal des Goncourt
- “Rodin, who is full of fawnishness, asks to see my Japanese erotics, and is full of admiration before the women’s drooping heads, the broken lines of their necks, the rigid extensions of arms, the contractions of feet, all the voluptuous and frenetic reality of coitus, all the sculptural twining of bodies melted and interlocked in the spasm of pleasure.” --Journal des Goncourt
