(EROTICA) "This is the real point of this book. I want men and women to be able to think sex, fully, completely, honestly and cleanly. Even if we can't act sexually to our complete satisfaction, let us at least think sexually, complete and clear"*

Gerda Weneger, ?, 1920's

Gerda Weneger, ?, ca 1920's

Louis Icart, Retiring, 1920's

S. Sauvage, 1924

M. E. Philip, Heisser Tag, 1931

William Wallace, Fantazius, 1922

Blaine Mahlon, Venus Nova, 1939

For erotica bibliophiles, here.

Juxtapoz has a cool selection of contemporary artists doing erotica (courtesy of JUXTAPOZ):

Into the Pit, by Pit

Olivia de Bernardinis (1948- )

Giuseppe Petrilli, backline #2

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*The quote heading the post is from D. H. Lawrence's introduction to the privately printed unexpurgated Paris edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover:

plethora of cards, 18th, 19th centuries

dentist card, 18th century

florist card, 18th century

the oldest christmas card 1843,

business card, mid-19th century. similar to today's business cards, in that they were printed usually in only one or two colors, on one side of the card only, and were more informational than promotional. they began to be used extensively in the 1850s.

advertising card, USA, 19th century. small brightly colored cards to promote stores or products, they were deliberately made interesting, funny, or attractive to encourage people to keep them. their peak of popularity was 1876-1900, and many were pasted into scrapbooks along with non-commercial decorative items

reward of merit card, 19th century. these cards were awarded to students in schools and sunday schools and often found their way into scrapbooks

calling card, 19th century, also called "name cards" or "visiting cards," were small cards imprinted just with a man's or woman's name, sometimes printed in a fancy script. they were exchanged on social occasions and also as tokens of affection; they sometimes were saved as a measure of one's popularity.

scraps are multi-colored illustrations on embossed paper that were die-cut into shapes. scraps date from the 1840s onward, and most in the 19th century came from germany. they were inexpensive to buy and were widely used to decorate cards or to paste in decorative array into blank books, hence "scrapbooks." this is the  19th century sticker

the explosion of children's books

before the victorian era, in the west we had this tendency to treat children as "little adults." the victorian developed the idea of "toy books", colorful picture books for pre-school children (an new market for graphic design). walter crane is one of the most influential designers of children's pictures books (above, top, Crane's Railroad Alphabet, 1865, being a notable example).  

he is not the only one. check below aladin's lamp by edmund dulac (1882-1953) courtesy monster brains.

tom, dick and harry, by talbot baines, circa 1910

the germans had struwwelpeter, a kind of edward scissor hands

check this interesting link to german horror books -for children?

GRAB YOUR ATTENTION! nineteenth century poster faces: sans serif, slab serif, organic or parted serifs

as printed material began to branch out from the familiar realm of books, new typefaces were needed for use in advertising, posters, and flyers. slab serif printing type was first commercially introduced by Vincent Figgins under the name Antique, with copies of specimen dated 1815 and 1817,

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graphic design and applied knowledge: The Mechanic's Magazine

this 19th century publication promoted the ideal of applied knowledge as a benefit to industry and a key to society's advantage. it's the grandfather of Popular's Mechanics.

book design, 19th century, it's about legibility and style

look at the beauty of this predigital design from the 19th century from stefan claudius. 

there are about half a dozen different typefaces, each of them supposed to emphasize something and the result still looks impressive.

even the imperfections of the typesetting are amazing.

La Caricature (humor, France)

La Caricature morale, politique et littéraire was published from 1830 to 1843. 

Auguste Audibert was the editor, and Charles Philipon (1800–1861) was the director and main author. Honoré de Balzac and Louis Desnoyers assisted Philipon in writing some of the magazine's issues. Primary artists were Honoré Daumier and Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard Grandville with caricature contributions from many artists including Henry Monnier, Alexandre Decamps, Auguste Raffet, Paul Gavarni, Achille Devéria, Auguste Desperret, Eugène Forest, Benjamin Roubaud.

(WIKIPEDIA) 

Benjamin Roubaud (above) 

Here's a great site, Panthéon Charivarique.

Charles Philipon

Here's an interesting presentation of Philipon's work.  

Achille Devéria

Nice presentation of Devéria's works @ Wikipedia. 

Punch the coming of age of political "humour"

 

The humorous writer professes to awaken and direct your love, your pity, your kindness; your scorn of untruth, pretension, imposture; your tenderness for the weak, the poor, the oppressed, the unhappy. -- Thackeray

Though posing at first only as the puppet who waded knee-deep in comic vice, punch has worked as a teacher as well as a jester -- a leader, and a preacher of kindness. nor was it simple humour that was punch's profession at the beginning; he always had a more serious and, so to say, a worthier object in view.-- The History of Punch, by M. H. Spielmann (Cassell and Company, 1895). 

Founded in 1841, Punch was initially titled Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration. The London Charivari, for the satirical french humor magazine Le Charivari. punch brought the modern use of the word "cartoon" to refer to a comic drawing. (WIKIPEDIA)

industrialization drew a line between hight art and graphic work, the latter is functional, the former autarchic

Jean-Ignace Isidore Gérard (low)

William Blake (high)

There is also the consensus issue. 

"high" refers to work that has been validated through the years. Generally stuff that belongs in museums. "low" is the opposite. 

Now, can low become high? It happens all the time. Pop art is an example. 

Can high become low? Let's see. 

Imagine Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), by Picasso, considered a masterpiece, become a much lesser work of art.

The answer is that it's possible. But unlikely. the reason is the undoing of consensus about art, which is not the same as consensus about science. the former is based on taste the latter is based on facts.

by mid nineteenth century the newspapers began to address the concerns of the working class

or this,

look at 1814's koenig's steam-press: 1,100 impressions per hour!

This is a big deal.

in march 1810 Koenig obtained a patent for his press, which printed 400 sheets per hour, far more than the 250 sheets per hour that could be printed on the Stanhope hand press. 

this press is built up from a large flat inking table, which regularly moves back and forth; the form on the table holds the type. 

 

the paper travels clockwise around a large cloth-covered cylinder, the impression roller and is pressed against the table. the ductor roller rotates and so draws ink from the attached reservoir. the ink passes from the ductor roller to the vibrating roller (for ink flow); this moves, on its arms, in a regular motion between the ductor roller and the table. 

the ink is spread thinly and evenly by the distributing rollers and then, as the table moves, passes onto the inking rollers. as the table continues to move the form passes alternately under the inking rollers, twice, and then under the impression roller. 

Romanticism and the various european revivals

 

This is a typical gothic flic inspired by a romantic script (which makes for the best gothic novels)

The origin of Renaissance architecture is generally accredited to Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446).  He wished to bring greater "order" to architecture, resulting in strong symmetry and careful proportion. The movement grew from scientific observations of nature, particularly human anatomy. 

During the mid-18th century rise of Romanticism, an increased interest and awareness of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance among influential connoisseurs created a more appreciative approach to selected medieval arts, beginning with church architecture, the tomb monuments of royal and noble personages, stained glass, and late Gothic illuminated manuscripts. 

Other Gothic arts, such as tapestries and metalwork, continued to be disregarded as barbaric and crude; however, sentimental and nationalist associations with historical figures were as strong in this early revival as purely aesthetic concerns.

Gothic Revival

Basilica of St. Clotild, France (19th century)

Canadian Palament from the Ottowa River

The study @ Abbotsford was created for Sir Walter Scott (19th century)

Renaissance Revival 

Like all architectural styles, the Neo-Renaissance did not appear overnight fully formed but evolved slowly. One of the first signs of its emergence was the Würzburg Women's Prison, erected in 1809 and designed by Peter Speeth. It included a heavily rusticated ground floor, alleviated by one semicircular arch, with a curious Egyptian style miniature portico above, high above this were a sequence of six tall arched windows and above these just beneath the slightly projecting roof were the small windows of the upper floor. (WIKI) 

Vladimir Palace, St. Petersburg Russia (19th century)

Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire, England (19th century)

It's confusing for the neophyte. Why?

Gothic influences on both period and revived Renaissance architecture are readily apparent, first as many buildings occurred during the period of transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance style and also as Renaissance−era design took the form of the addition of Renaissance ornamentation to Gothic−era buildings; thus, creating accretion of details from disparate sources. 

Architects who designed in the Renaissance Revival style usually avoided any references to Gothic Revival architecture, drawing instead on various other classically based styles.