They were sold from under the counter, but everyone knew where to buy them. They were available in Krakow's Cloth Hall, and even ... in schools. This is the history of the beginnings of Polish eroticism. Richly illustrated.
According to the description, Ewa is "scared", although to tell the truth, she looks rather flustered. She stands with her hands clasped at face level, completely naked. Ethereal beauty, waist-length hair, and a numb pose create the hard-to-combat impression that this is really a painter's painting, not a photo.
Spring looks even more unnatural. Legs laced like in a dance, hands clumsily held above the head, and an airy sash covering the most intimate parts of the body.
"Eve with a Snake" and "Spring".
Only the portrait of Dream has any taste of authenticity. The woman sits casually in an elegant armchair. Crossed leg, eyes closed. It seems to be resting. Hands behind the head and a slightly inclined silhouette subtly direct the viewer's attention to the model's bust.
"Sleep."
Ewa, Spring and Sen are the titles and themes of three prints belonging to the collection of the oldest erotic postcards in the collection of the National Library in Warsaw. All of them were in circulation in Poland, and at least two were also printed here - in the highly valued and considered the most modern in Poland Zakłady Graficzne B. Wierzbicki i S-ka. It is the postcard that has become the basic form for modern eroticism.
However, this name should be treated as conventional. Rather, it has never happened that anyone would send a disassembled photo by post without an envelope. As Szymon Bojko, an expert in old photography explained, in the first years "the sale of these" artistic "postcards often took place only from under the counter, in shops with a special reputation, less respected bookstores" .
"Female nude".
Postcards with a key, where models impersonated ancient goddesses and biblical characters, is the domain of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the interwar period, completely free acts became a standard. With the body as such in the lead role - and not the body of Aphrodite or Helena Trojanska. The National Library keeps in its warehouses a series of photographs of "a woman in the rushes" and "a woman leaning on a chair". Today, these graphics may seem completely innocent. However, a hundred years ago, they made gentlemen's hearts beat faster.
"Nude of a woman in the rushes."
The liberated twenties became the ideal ground for the development of pictorial eroticism - there is no doubt about it. Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński made a half-joking and half-serious alarm in 1932:“Senses, senses everywhere! Will I not get anywhere from them, will I not take refuge from them anywhere? ”. And there was clearly something wrong. Brave, provocative art, which was not lacking also before World War I, has only now gone beyond the studios of rebellious artists.
Boy could not imagine that ten or twenty years earlier a respected philosopher and professor of mathematics in his spare time drew undressed women in unequivocal poses.
An erotic watercolor by professor Chwistek.
The more difficult it was to imagine a professor proudly handing out pornographic drawings to guests, accompanied by his smiling wife. Times have changed. Leon Chwistek from Lviv drew and distributed. In fact, in naked ladies on paper he also saw the key to understanding the universe and its "multiplicity of reality".
"Nude of a woman in the rushes."
At the same time, Benedykt Jerzy Dorys, the owner of the most popular portrait studio in the capital, created tasteful, narrow-frame and completely shameless nudes. Both feminine and masculine.
"Female Nude" by Benedict Jerzy Dorys.
The boundaries of pornography have blurred imperceptibly. What would have resulted in a police visit in 1900 had the protective label of "art" in 1920. As early as 1917, Stanisław Kurkiewicz mentioned that erotic postcards are sold openly in Krakow's Cloth Hall.
"Act of a woman standing backwards."
Pornography had to be easily available, because it was massively sent to schools, not only in large cities. In 1934, the daily "Echo" reported on a trial against a certain Henoch Warman, who ran a bookshop in Kurów near Puławy.
In order to increase his income, the clever businessman started selling erotic postcards, which, if you believe the newspaper, was brave. The bookstore has suddenly become a favorite place for young students to visit.
"Act of a sitting woman"
The police finally revealed the mystery of their increased interest in literature. Dozens of pornographic photos were found in Warman's house. The court found him guilty of corrupting the youth, but the punishment was quite symbolic. Two hundred zlotys fine.
The judges often did not know how to proceed in similar cases. They were active not only at the interface between art and pornography, but also science.
"Nude of a woman with her arms outstretched"
Conservative environments labeled any sexology work as pornography. This was the case at the turn of the century, when doctors rarely went beyond general hygiene advice. Gradually, however, it was becoming more and more difficult to define what is strictly scientific work and irritates only selected circles, and what really exceeds the limits of the law.
Illustration from the erotic magazine "Cupid". 1925.
Stanisław Kurkiewicz announced already during the First World War that he was going to publish an album presenting in a realistic way "the performance of various types of self-esteem [that is, masturbation - ed. author of the article] in men and women ”.
He also wanted to prepare, for the sake of science, of course, "beauty gifts" collection - a series of photos of attractive women and their sexual organs.
The controversial sex doctor did not manage to implement any of these projects. If he succeeded, however, the prosecutor would be hard to crack. Is this still sexology or is it already debauchery?
"Act of a woman leaning against a chair"
If you are to believe Stefan Wiechecki, better known as Wiech, also the street in Warsaw immediately picked up on new trends. Salon-goers could sip wine and nod in appreciation at the sight of Dorys' naked model? In that case, the visitors of Kercelak were also entitled to the same.
"Act of a woman leaning back against a chair."
Except that they were nodding not in the living room, but in a working class den, and in their hands they had cups with clean rather than crystal glasses.
The pictures we admired were also slightly different. They came from "picture exhibitions" in the version for the poor - placed on street corners, in the open air, five meters from a cigarette kiosk and ten from a liquor store.
"Most of us are depicted in paintings in which naked women appear lying on the water, with a rose in their teeth, or in front of a mirror there is such a Persian eye of fascination" - explained the market law owner of "an artificial salon with lanterns", who appeared in the the facts of the topping out story. The story was based on a lawsuit, but not pornography by any means. There was a fight between the painter and the seller.
The first drunk painted a model naked, shapely and alluring - but with a truly professor's beard. The second, instead of forgiving his colleague the consequences of too long a libation, he nervously demanded that the painter should buy the unfortunate painting himself. Because the mustachioed woman looks like his mother-in-law from a cup to a cup.
Bibliography:
The article was based on the literature and materials collected by the author during the work on the book The age of hypocrisy. Sex and erotica in pre-war Poland .