Erotic/Pornographic art/prints and illustrations [merged]

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Originally Posted by onehourplus

The Susie artwork has the artistic style of many of the 1930s-era explicit funnies described in Bob Adelman's book Tijuana Bibles (Simon & Schuster, 1997). In particular, the dickhead is not portrayed realistically. It looks more like the dickhead of a horse than of a human.

As I noted above, the "Susie" comic is called "Jean Harloe [sic] in Hot Nuts", published circa 1932. It clearly is a "Tijuana Bible" -- the subject matter, the format, and spoofing a popular movie star, that's the format of these.

A good chunk of the Adelson book is on this thread, way back, post #933, 934, and 935
http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...&postcount=933

Originally Posted by onehourplus

This is discussed in the book, but no reason is given for it. I wonder if it's similar to the Japanese habit of de-pixellating the sex organs in depictions of explicit sex. Perhaps it was forbidden to publish a realistic drawing of a dickhead, but if you made it look unrealistic, well then, that was "ok."

I don't think any of this was OK with the authorities. . . J.Edgar Hoover had the FBI on the tail of porno. These were sold under the counter at places guys congregated, bars, pool halls, tobacconists, none of it was legal.

There's a website devoted to them-- just google "Tijuana Bibles" and you'll find it; unfortunately the guy scanned them more than ten years ago at very low resolution.

And how do you like them appples-- Duke University Library, very erudite, has a collection of 400 Tijuana Bibles, full list here:
https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/...tijuanabibles/

Originally Posted by Duke University Library

Tijuana bibles are small, cheaply-made, pornographic publications. Also known as “dirty little books” or “eight-pagers,” Tijuana bibles emerged in the 1930s and remained popular through the 1940s, finally disappearing in the post-World War II period. Being underground erotic publications, there were no designated publishers or organizations creating the books; despite that, each adheres to a fairly consistent format. They average about 3x5 inches in size, and are eight pages in length, bound between covers by a staple. Images are cheaply printed on poor-quality paper by mimeograph, usually in black and white, occasionally incorporating the color red. The book's cover also serves as a title page, introducing the main character and sometimes an author's pen name (which is usually a sexual double entendre). Nearly every bible is undated and by an anonymous author.

Tijuana bible artists tended to draw their characters from mainstream newspaper comics, such as Popeye or Little Orphan Annie; politicians or celebrities from the day, such as Greta Garbo or Mae West; or American folklore or culture, such as a travelling salesman or an unemployed secretary. Although the books are extremely graphic in nature, there is also a consistent presence of humor, with the last page typically serving as a punch line.

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"Son of a Spanish nobleman" is how some of the bios have it, but in the late 19th century this was often a dubious claim (Spain had lots of titles and if you wanted to give yourself the 1890 equivalent of a degree from a mail order university today, claiming to be the son of a great hidalgo was a common strategy). Whatever his nobility might have been the "Marquiz" Franz von Bayros was a really skillful Austrian artist of the early 20th century, carrying on Aubrey Beardsley's decadent style, but with a more heterosexual vibe. He did several folios of erotic prints in addition to his commercial work. He married the stepdaughter of Johan Strauss II, and mixed with the high toned of Viennese society; his non-erotic work includes "A Night with Johan Strauss", and portraits of members of the Strauss family.

Gilles Nèret has nice things to say about him in "Erotica Universalis"

A brilliant draughtsman, Franz von Bayros kept the candle burning for the Decadents more than a quarter of a century after the death of Aubrey Beardsley in 1898. His art is an unmistakable cocktail of rococo daintiness, Beardsley-esque technique and witty, decadent eroticism.

I only know of one court case-- when German authorities arrested him after Erzahlungen vom Toilettentisch = "Tales from the dressing room" (eg "watching milady get dressed").

and from an auction catalog

As an artist, Bayros mixed in elegant society and soon belonged to the circle of friends of Johann Straub, whose step daughter Alice he married in 1896. The next year, Bayros moved to Munich. In 1904, Bayros gave his first exhibition in Munich, which was a great success. From 1904 until 1908, Bayros traveled to Paris and Italy for his studies. Returning Vienna, he felt himself a stranger. He may best known for his controversial Tales at the Dressing Table , a book considered so dangerous to the morality of the time that Von Bayros was arrested and forced into exile. He was obliged to move from one European capital to another as each outrageous new work was banned by the authorities. Von Bayros' art is striking in its stark eroticism and wry wit and he is noted for his lurid illustrations of such classic forbidden books as Boccaccio's Decameron.

He seems to have had a little business in ex-libris/bookplates, some more erotic than others, all well crafted-- here's one I especially like, an erotic bookplate he designed for a certain "Dr. Phil. Rudolf Ludwig" who must have been a fellow after my own heart! Ludwig had a considerable library of erotica, so this bookplate turns up in erotica like an 1870 book of Paul Verlaine's lesbian poetry



And here are some plates from his illustrations to the life of Casanova, published as

Giacomo Casanova. Erinnerungen aus galanter Zeit.
Berlin: Borngräber, Neues Leben, Vorw, 1912.
Illustrator Franz von Marquis Bayros.



. . . but don't think his work is all so Beardsley -dainty, he's got harder work too, including some pretty huge strapons



. . . and some of it is humorous, note the toy soldiers in this one. Evidently the hussars have had an agreeable bivouac



mac1 previously posted much of von Bayros' material on this thread in three previous posts:

http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1687

http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1516

http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1223

[kelio]

Unknown artist
Credit to the OP

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Originally Posted by kelio

Unknown artist
Credit to the OP

This one has driven me nuts. Have applied ample dollops of Google-fu, but found very little other than that other people are as puzzled by these images. You've probably noticed that they carry the name "Silwa", but its hard to see the connection to the German studio of that name.

The style is hard to read. It looks amateurish at first, but then you notice the rather confident -- an unfortunately illegible- signature. Also the draping of clothing and the shading is better than amateur.

It reminds me just a bit of a similarly mysterious folio of illustrations to the Story of O that mac1 posted a while back, with the legible but unhelpful signature "T. Monnot"

http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...postcount=1847

[Joszka]

French architect & draughtsman Jean-Jacques Lequeu (1757 – 1826) on Wiki.
Gallery

[howerd]

The Cave of the Storm Nymphs by Sir Edward John Poynter

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Frida Castelli -- contemporary artist

[junejune]

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An illustrated essay from the Italian magazine "Glamour" (issue 15, 1991) -- I've got a thread devoted to that magazine, here:
http://vintage-erotica-forum.com/sho...d.php?t=177903

Roberto Baldazzini, born 1958, is an Italian illustrator, known for comics and erotica. He has most recently published a monograph of his erotic works, Mondo Erotic [2017]. None of that material is in this post, this is just the 1991 Glamour International piece.

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