Folies D'Amour : More Erotic Memoirs Of Paris In The 1920S

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Georges Hugnet (11 July 1906 – 26 June 1974) was a French graphic artist. He was also active as a poet, writer, art historian, bookbinding designer, critic and film director. According to one source, Hugnet’s early rebelliousness eventually developed into a combative, stubborn nature causing quarrels with publishers, other artists, poets, friends, and family throughout his life. In the 1940s, Hugnet was part of the French Resistance in German-occupied France. In 1943, Hugnet collaborated with Spanish surrealist Óscar Domínguez to create Le feu au cul, a term generally used with someone who is on the lookout for sexual liaison opportunities. The book of art and poetry was published secretly during the wartime occupation. Hugnet’s erotic poetry was well paired with Dominguez’s overtly sexual artwork, which, “ demonstrated an unceasing preoccupation with the subconscious, with automatism and with unfettered spontaneity.” Much of the hand-wringing about petting parties focused on the supposed immorality of the young woman who attended them. Critics grumbled about flappers’ refusal to engage in traditional courtship and their flippant attitudes toward long-held social conventions. In the twentieth century, erotic art became more adventurous, not only in what it depicted, but in the art forms used. A variety of twentieth-century art and design movements, from abstract expressionism to art deco to pop art to surrealism, are illustrated in the books of Enfer. Additionally, erotic literature changed with the times. Some of the works still offered social commentary and criticism, but there were just as many texts dealing with love, sexual desires, fetishes, and outright pornography. Throughout the 1920s and 30s so-called ‘propaganda films’ about birth control or the dangers from sexually transmitted diseases, such as The Uncharted Sea (1928) and The Irresponsibles (1929) were refused film certificates by the BBFC. This is surprising since neither of these two films depicts how such diseases are actually caught, only that they seem to occur outside “marital relationships”. But not everyone approved of the fashions and fads of these newly liberated young women. To many Americans, petting parties epitomized everything that was evil about the Jazz Age. These parties took on different forms, but they all had the same goal: physical pleasure.

While the production values of Xcitement might overstress the faux sophistication of the early 1960s, Greene was an impresario of the glamour industry in her own right, who along with Marks had created the massively successful ‘nude studies’ magazine Kamera in 1957, so she knew how to play to the camera and occupy the audience. And it’s with a natural adeptness for sinuous moves and peek-a-boo glances, as well as her straightforward charm, that she carries us along in a rare example of a striptease film living up to its title. Le Cinglant Argument is one of the books in a sub-collection of Enfer known as Flagellation. Between the 1880s and the 1930s, an editorial subgenre flourished in France: the novel de flagellation, a specialized branch of erotic literature. In this context, “passionate flogging” is a sexual act consisting of experiencing an erotic pleasure to be whipped. The Flagellation books in Enfer consist of literary works on spanking, caning, and whipping.His drawings for Paris-Éros featured a combination of pencil and watercolour washes, depicting women and men in elegant attire and seductive poses. Aside from the titillating qualities of some of the illustrations, it is interesting to see the fashions of the period depicted. One such illustration shows two fashionably dressed ladies likely wearing corsets that gave their figures the wasp-waisted look that was in vogue. Dumont, Auguste. Paris-Éros Première série Les maquerelles inédites / Martial d’Estoc / dessins de Gaston Noury. Illustrated by Gaston Noury, Le Courrier littéraire de la presse, 1903. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, The six short stories featured in Le Cinglant Argument feature characters whose sexual frustrations and desires find release in all sorts of flagellation. The sixteen illustrations featured in this book, illustrated by an anonymous artist, leave no doubt this is a flagellation novel; they offer a wonderful visual aspect to the stories. Aside from the erotic nature of the illustrations, it is interesting to see the fashions, furnishings, and stylings of the turn of the twentieth century brought to life. Le Cinglant argument / préface de Pierre Guénolé. Office central de librairie, 1900. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GEYFLB626093737/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=55793c24&pg=111 Jean Genet, (born December 19, 1910, Paris – died April 15, 1986, Paris) spent his early life as a petty thief and a vagabond, yet later became a writer, playwright and human rights activist. Genet was also openly homosexual, and many of his works explicitly portrayed themes of homosexuality and criminality, reflective of his own life journey. In 1947, Genet published La Galère ( The Galley), a poetic work about a virile murderer who is transformed into a tragic “queen” in a fantasy involv­ing a galley ship transporting prisoners to apenal colony in Guyana.

Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GDTLVQ153556106/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=32b93350&pg=74 Homosexual Erotica Not all petting parties were intentional affairs; some broke out spontaneously in dance halls, cars or secluded places. And to some, the very thought of a party devoted to sex—even a relatively chaste version—was cause for outrage. Surrealism was a cultural movement which developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I and was largely influenced by Dadaism. According to André Breton, surrealism utilised art and literature to “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality”, or “surreality”. Surrealist artists and writers frequently employed free association, dream analysis, and the unconscious mind to create their works. Surrealism was a philosophical movement, but also a revolutionary movement most commonly associated with communism and anarchism. From the 1920’s onward, Paris was a centre of the surrealist movement, so it is no surprise to see a number of works in Enfer written and illustrated in surrealist style. New media can always rely on sex to propel its popularity. And the motion picture was no exception to this rule. Right from the start, when moving images were developed in the 1890s, their erotic potential was seized upon. We know that a group of adventurous Brazilian pornographers bought one of the first five Kinetoscope cameras manufactured by Thomas Edison in 1893. Three years later, on this side of the Atlantic, George Méliès produced the first moving picture to feature nudity, though only a few frames from Le Bain (1896) have survived.The censors’ no nudity rule persisted in the coming decades, and curiosities such as Action in Slow Motion (1943), which feature nudes in action (albeit shot at a distance), would not have not been seen in cinemas. By the beginning of the 1960s, however, one man was determined to find a way to put naked bodies on the British screen. In the summer of 1960 the pin-up photographer Harrison Marks told the head censor at the BBFC: “I’m going to be waving the banner for British nudists.” The censor was not impressed. But he knew that the board would have to pass Marks’ intended film, Naked as Nature Intended (1960), provided “the film’s setting is recognisable as a nudist camp or nature reserve”. Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GDAAIR446444339/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=9376408d&pg=45 The Novel de Flagellation Argentine-Italian surrealist painter Leonor Fini was invited to illustrate La Galère and created six etchings depicting explicit sexual activities between men. Finding homosexual erotica can be challenging given past social attitudes toward homosexuality. In 1956, Genet was given a fine and a suspended prison sentence for publishing the illustrated editions of La Galère and Querelle de Brest, both of which were considered “in contempt of morality”. Finding a work that artistically depicts gay intimacy, especially illustrated by a female artist, is something of a rarity. Eventually, the practice faded. Their declining popularity can probably be explained by the maturation of flappers and their petting partners—who needs a petting party when you’re already married? (Eve Blue eventually gave up on petting parties after she was nearly raped.) But they also came to an end because the flappers who dared to pet in public helped make open sexual expression more commonplace.

In the interest of exploring art and social history in twentieth-century erotica, let us descend into the fabulous, scandalous, and enticing digital collection of L’Enfer de la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Erotic Courtesan Fantasy It was between the acts put on in Soho’s strip clubs that the short uncertified films Goodnight with Sabrina (1958) and Burlesque Queen (1961) would have been exhibited. With tassels twirling, over-elaborate dance steps and bodies swathed in voluminous gauze, these 8mm shorts are caught in time, oddly prim in routines that could have been choreographed by the Women’s Institute. The Uncharted Sea, meanwhile, warns young men of the dire consequences that will arise from licentious living, and the price is not left in doubt. “I’ve paid heavily for one night out,” bewails our hero, George. “I’ve lost my job, and now I have gonorrhea.”Domínguez was a Spanish artist best known for his loosely rendered Surrealist paintings. Influenced by avant-garde European painters such as René Magritte, Giorgio de Chirico, and Yves Tanguy, he employed bizarre subject matter to great effect. Domínguez, like Max Ernst, used a technique called decalcomania, a technique used by some surrealist artists which involves pressing paint between sheets of paper. Hugnet, Georges. Le feu au cul / [Georges Hugnet]; [illustrations d’Oscar Domínguez]. Illustrated by Oscar Dominguez, [Robert J. Godet], [1943]. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GKUCFJ839309656/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=be484433&pg=5 Hugnet, Georges. Le feu au cul / [Georges Hugnet]; [illustrations d’Oscar Domínguez]. Illustrated by Oscar Dominguez, [Robert J. Godet], [1943]. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GKUCFJ839309656/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=be484433&pg=20 Illustration for plays Récits Piquants Chaudes Aventures, essentially “ Spicy Tales, Hot Adventures” is another flagellation novel, a topic that was popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The book features six stories, three long tales and three short stories, of passion, sexual frustration, and the art of flogging. This is a work written for the entertainment of the disciples of the lash, nothing more, nothing less. Récits Piquants Chaudes Aventures is interesting as a testimony to a sexual fetish that dominated erotic publishing for the better part of fifty years. Whether or not the book has any redeeming social value, or offers any kind of worthy social critique, is up to you to discover. It is mentioned here for its fascinating depictions of a bygone era. The illustrations in this book were done by Georges Töpfer, a prolific erotic artist whose work appeared in multiple books of the early twentieth century. Featuring fringe wraps, drop-waist dresses, and bob haircuts, the finely rendered drawings nicely portray the stylings and fashions of the 1920s. Nates, Gilbert. Récits piquants chaudes aventures (scènes de féminisme)… / Gilbert Natès; [ill. de G. Topfer]. Illustrated by G. Topfer, M. Legrand, 1920. Archives of Sexuality and Gender, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GGBJKC167197546/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=ce4dbccf&pg=173 Surrealism Traditional girls cared about getting married and raising kids; flappers wanted to party instead of settling down. Petting parties only added to this reputation. When The Washington Post published a glossary of the flapper’s philosophy in 1922, it defined life as “One long petting party accompanied by jazz. Future: Heaven only knows what.” Right: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/GEILBK698847083/AHSI?u=omni&sid=AHSI&xid=eafc0675&pg=31 Delve into the fascinating lives and histories of the authors and artists in Enfer The first known example of British ‘cheesecake’ top ends The Pleasure Principle, a new collection on BFI Player exploring the history of British film erotica. Appropriately shot on a Kinetoscope or ‘peepshow’ camera, the Brighton-based pioneer Esme Collins’ A Victorian Lady at Her Boudoir (1896) is, in effect, a three-minute long stripshow in which the leading lady stops short in her shift, appears confused by the camera and tousles her hair by way of a wink to the audience.