La photographie érotique

Anonyme, Académie, vers 1845, daguerréotype. From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l'œil de la photographie — Anonyme, Académie, vers 1845, daguerréotype. From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l’œil de la photographie

Anonyme, Nu, vers 1848, daguerréotype (stereo). From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l'œil de la photograp — Anonyme, Nu, vers 1848, daguerréotype (stereo). From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l’œil de la photographie

Two Women Embracing. Unknown French maker; about 1848; Daguerreotype, hand-colored. From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l'œil de la photographie — Two Women Embracing. Unknown French maker; about 1848; Daguerreotype, hand-colored. From: Abigail Solomon-Godeau: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique» | src l’œil de la photographie

The title is intriguing: «Reconsidérer la photographie érotique». (“Reconsidering erotic photography”).
The text itself is brilliant and of great intelligence.

In this 1987 essay, historian Abigail Solomon-Godeau traces avenues for exploring a history of erotic and pornographic photographic production, a history hitherto repressed and absent from narratives. Thus opening the door to a feminist and revised history of the photographic medium, she shows how much this imagery has been abundant and present almost from the origins of photography. In “Reconsidering erotic photography”, Abigail Solomon-Godeau analyzes the ways in which naked bodies are presented in several photographic images from the 1840s-1850s, whether academic nudes or images intended for other types of visual consumption, and questions the specificity of photographic representation as opposed to other mediums. Supporting feminist theories, she raises the question of how these images are viewed, and the ambiguity of their designation, between eroticism and pornography. At the heart of this pioneering essay in the history of photography, she defends the need to write the history of these often set aside productions.

Reconsidérer la photographie érotique.
Notes pour un projet de sauvetage historique
Abigail Solomon-Godeau
Éléonore Challine (éd. et trad.),
Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2022
quoted from l’œil de la photographie

Formes nues · Jacques Lemare

Jacques Lemare :: From ‘Formes nues’, album de nus féminins, pp. 46, 47, 1935. | src Arenberg Auctions — **Jacques Lemare ::** From ‘Formes nues’, album de nus féminins, p. 46, 1935. | src Arenberg Auctions

Jacques Lemare :: From ‘Formes nues’, album de nus féminins, p. 47, 1935. | src Arenberg Auctions — **Jacques Lemare ::** From ‘Formes nues’, album de nus féminins, pp. 46, 47, 1935. | src Arenberg Auctions

Formes Nues. Paris, Éditions d’Arts Graphiques et Photographiques, 1935. Spiral binding by Reliure Spirale Brevetée, photographic cover designed by Man Ray.

Limited first edition with 96 photographic reproductions (photogravures) by Laure Albin Guillot, Brassaï, Raoul Hausmann, André Kertesz, Herbert List, Kefer, Dora Maar, Georges Platt-Lynes, Man Ray, etc. “Amongst the numerous artistic manifestations of modern times, photography in all its applications arouses an ever growing interest among the general public. The photographers are guided in their works by various and even adverse conceptions. We have approached the most representative amongst them, who were kind enough to accept our invitation of expressing their unbiassed opinion on the matter, our only object being the coordination of the aggregate of subjects” (introduction). Text in French, English and German.

Female half-nude, ca. 1929

Mario von Bucovich :: Halbblut. Revue des Monats, Oktober 1929. Vorlage: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Leipzig — **Mario von Bucovich ::** Halbblut. Revue des Monats, Oktober 1929. Vorlage: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Leipzig

In a Blue Moon, 1939 (Nell Dorr)

“It’s only once in a blue moon that days like these can happen but, when they do, they add a new dimension to the years that follow.” – Opening text of In a blue moon by Nell Dorr.

Nell Dorr - Nell Koons :: from "In a Blue Moon", published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1939. In a Blue Moon, a small hardcover made up of many of the same images from Mangroves (*) but printed in photogravure. — **Nell Dorr ~ Nell Koons ::** from “In a Blue Moon”, published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1939.

In a Blue Moon, a small hardcover made up of many of the same images from Mangroves (*) but printed in photogravure. Lettering by George A. DuBerg.
(*) Mangroves, a softbound portfolio of her photographs was self-published in a limited edition, under her first married name, Nell Koons. It comprises two of her poems and fifteen tipped-in halftones of flowers and nude girls and women, often perched in trees.

Nell Dorr - Nell Koons :: from "In a Blue Moon", published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1939. — **Nell Dorr ~ Nell Koons ::** from “In a Blue Moon”, published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in 1939.

Nell Dorr :: Florida Keys, 1928. # 9 From In a Blue Moon, published 1939. Amon Carter Museum — **Nell Dorr ~ Nell Koons ::** Florida Keys, 1928. # 9 From In a Blue Moon, published 1939. Amon Carter Museum

Nell Dorr :: The Secret Pool, 1928. # 18 also # 58, From In a Blue Moon, published 1939. Amon Carter Museum — **Nell Dorr ~ Nell Koons ::** The Secret Pool, 1928. # 18 also # 58, From In a Blue Moon, published 1939. Amon Carter Museum

In a blue moon combines dream-like images of nude women with close-up and abstracted images of flowers. The narrative of this photo-novella is the transition into adulthood. The effect of this book is that something that has so much potential to be lame – pictures of girls, pictures of flowers, girls and flowers and girls with flowers in their hair – actually comes across as being quite profound and unashamedly beautiful. Nell Dorr photographed with a Rollei camera only ever using available natural light. The simplicity of her approach did not necessarily mean simplicity in the results that she achieved. Her imagery is filled with amazing abstract constructions and her portraits have an almost primal quality. Her photographs are the autobiographical work of a strong and sensitive woman who created an internal place where beauty and truth could still flourish. [quoted from an article by Matthew Carson (Head Librarian & Archivist at the International Center of Photography) on Monsters & Madonnas]