Erotic Photography - Beginnings

Beginnings

• Erotic postcard, 1919

• Woman with camera. Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920 or before

• The warm relationship Bellocq had with his sitters is reflected in their seeming lack of self-consciousness

Before 1835, depictions of nudity generally consisted of paintings and drawings. In that year, Louis Daguerre invented the first practical process of photography. Unlike earlier photograph attempts, his daguerreotypes had stunning quality and did not fade with time. Artists adopted the new technology as a new way to depict the nude form, which in practice was the feminine form. In so doing, at least initially, they tried to follow the styles and traditions of the art form.

In Nude Photography, 1840–1920, Peter Marshall notes: "In the prevailing moral climate at the time of the invention of photography, the only officially sanctioned photography of the body was for the production of artist's studies. Many of the surviving examples of daguerreotypes are clearly not in this genre but have a sensuality that clearly implies they were designed as erotic or pornographic images".

The daguerreotypes were not without drawbacks, however. The main difficulty was that they could only be reproduced by photographing the original picture. In addition, the earliest daguerreotypes had exposure times ranging from three to fifteen minutes, making them somewhat impractical for portraiture. The cost of the process also limited the spread of the technology. Since one picture could cost a week's salary, the audience for nudes mostly consisted of artists and the upper echelon of society. Nude stereoscopy began in 1838 and became extremely popular.