Exhibition: ‘Hold That Pose: Erotic Imagery in 19th Century Photography’ at the Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, Indiana Part 2

Exhibition dates: 23rd January – 4th September 2015

Kinsey Institute Gallery, Indiana University

*PLEASE NOTE THIS POSTING CONTAINS ART PHOTOGRAPHS OF HUMAN EROTIC ACTIVITY AND NUDITY – IF YOU DO NOT LIKE PLEASE DO NOT LOOK, FAIR WARNING HAS BEEN GIVEN*

 

 

 

Unknown photographer
Female nude
1850s
Daguerreotype in case

 

 

Part 2 of this special posting of photographs from the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

I especially like the allusion to Romanticism and class in Bijoux 118 (catalog card) (below) through the picture on the wall behind the copulating couple; and the allusion to the landscape and the sublime in Man performing analinctus on another man (1885-1900, below) through the painted studio backdrop. The sheer pleasure on the faces of some of the people in these photographs, such as in Clothed man kneeling behind a nude woman (1884-1886, below) is a joy to behold.

See Part 1 of the posting.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Many thankx for the Kinsey Institute for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

 

The Kinsey Institute research collection contains thousands of examples of erotic imagery produced over centuries by artists around the world. When the new technology of photography was announced in France in 1839, it was not long before it became the most popular medium for depictions of the nude figure, as well as erotic imagery. The first photographic process to be widely used was the daguerreotype, which produced a unique image. With the invention of other processes that used negatives to make multiple prints, the mass production of erotic photographs became possible. Hold That Pose features daguerreotypes, tintypes, albumen and gelatin silver prints, stereocards, and other examples of photographic processes that were used by professional photographers in the 19th century to produce and distribute erotic material.

 

 

 

W.H. Gilbert Tate (London, England)
Portrait of an actress
c. 1870
Albumen print (carte de visite)

 

Cartes de visite and cabinet cards

Mass produced on cheap paper or cardstock, actress cards served as cartes de visite – photographic cards left as messages – and as collectible portraits of popular stars of the theatre in London and Paris. One could purchase larger photographs, known as cabinet cards, from the photography studio or the pocket-sized cartes de visite. In an era when women were expected to stay at home, living quiet lives as wives and mothers, actresses were seen as having turned their backs on their ‘God given duty’ to be devoted homemakers. Though looked down upon socially, some actresses achieved fame and notoriety, through their work on stage as well as their lives outside the theatre.

 

 

Wendt Studio (New Jersey, United States)
Helen Mathews, Length of hair 6 feet 4 inches
19th century
Albumen print mounted on cabinet card

 

 

Guglielmo Plüschow (Wilhelm von Plüschow, Germany 1852-1930)
Female nude
Italy, c. 1890
Albumen print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Bijoux 118 (catalog card)
19th century
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Bijoux 118 (catalog card) (detail)
19th century
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Bijoux 118 (catalog card) (detail)
19th century
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Entre Forains/L’Apache en Rut
1895
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Stillfried & Andersen (Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz Austria, 1839-1911) and Hermann Andersen
Reclining female nude
Yokohama, Japan, 1880-1882?
Hand-colored albumen print mounted on cabinet card

 

 

Unknown photographer
Group sexual encounter between a man and two women dressed in clerical costumes
1883-1885
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer (France)
Clothed man kneeling behind a nude woman
1884-1886
Albumen print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Man and woman kissing while seated on a chair
1890-1893
Gelatin silver copy print
Donated in 1954

 

 

Unknown photographer
Woman sitting on a man to engage in coitus
1895-1898
Gelatin silver print

 

Unknown photographer (France)
Man performing analinctus on another man
1885-1900
Albumen print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Two men performing mutual masturbation
1880
Albumen print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Woman masturbating with a bedpost
1887
Albumen print

 

 

Unknown photographer (France)
Man in robe receiving oral sex from a kneeling man
c.1890
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer
Woman spanking another woman with birch rod
1895-1898
Gelatin silver print

 

 

Unknown photographer (France)
Woman holding a birch rod over a kneeling nude man
1890-1900
Gelatin silver print

 

The Kinsey Institute
Morrison Hall 313, Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana, USA

Opening hours
Monday – Friday 1 – 5pm

The Kinsey Institute website

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