More erotic drawings by Martin Philipp

We recently looked at some pictures by the German artist ME Philipp.  Here are a few more of his erotic scenes, most of which were done as book illustrations, which were produced from about 1915 until about 1925. 

Erotica comes. of course, in different levels of explicitness and Philipp's work is mainly at the milder end of the spectrum but is no less effective for that.

In fact, it nicely illustrates one of the characteristics of this level of erotic work; that whilst the lady can be shown naked the man often keeps his clothes on.

The acceptability of showing a woman and a man naked in a sexual situation is often different.  This may be down to aesthetics on the artists part in that he would rather draw a nude female body.

It might be down to the artist''s concerns about the aesthetics of the viewer of the work who may or may not want to look at  a naked male body.

It may be down to the fact that depicting an erection has been the dividing line between what is acceptable (or legal, in many cases) and what is not.

So while it has been quite acceptable to show a woman's pubic area or even sex organs in the past this acceptability is not at the same level as would be the case if a man's were shown.  This double standard certainly exists today in Hollywood cinema but, in that case, there may be an element of the male actor not wanting to show the world everything.  Unfortunately for young actresses, they seem to have to put up with the fact that they are expected to show more than their male counterparts.  This is certainly sexism in action!

For women the depiction of bare breasts is one level higher on the acceptability rating than showing the pubic area. Even today this acceptability varies from place to place.  Triple P was talking to some Americans in Istanbul last week who were surprised and somehat horrified by the bare breasts on view every day in the UK's tabloid newspapers.

Two of Philipp's pictures do include a male erection but in both cases the woman is naked whilst the man keeps his clothes on.

We like these little eighteenth century style vignettes of Philipp's and with their gentle breast nibbling, fingering and licking they are all about the excitement of foreplay rather than intercourse.  This is a theme we will examine more, in conjunction with our lesbian theme, over the next month or so.

ME Philipp Self portrait (1939)

Two women on a bed by ME Philipp

Here is a nice, langourous little engraving by German artist Martin Erich Philipp.  Philipp was born in 1887 in Zwickau, in Saxony, which was also the birthplace of Robert Schumann, so Agent Triple P is writing this post to the accompaniment of his Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish” in E flat major, Op. 97; one of our very favourite Romantic symphonies.

Nude study

Philipp studied at the School of Applied Arts in Dresden from 1904 until 1908.  He then transferred to the Dresden Academy of Art where he studied until 1913.

Bookplate (1919)

He was most famous for his engravings and woodcuts and produced a number of mildly erotic bookplate designs as well as some other erotic illustrations.

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Akt auf dem Diwan (1912)

He did produce some paintings but mainly specialised in coloured prints especially still life studies of flowers and some very fine Japanese-inspired prints of birds.  

Seated girl in stockings (1920)

The picture at the top of this post was produced just before the First World War, either while he was still at the Dresden Academy or shortly afterwards.  It captures the pre-war atmosphere of the Decadents in just a few beautifully executed lines.

Martin Erich Philipp

We will return to Philipp and look at some of his other erotic engravings and drawings another day.

The Vice (1914)

Two Girls by Christian Schad

Two girls (1928)

We move away from inter-war Paris over to Berlin which was the only other continental rival to the French capital as a major source of erotica at this time.

This painting is by the Bavarian born painter Christian Schad (1894-1982) and was painted in 1928.  Schad was born in Miesbad, Bavaria and studied at the Munich Art Academy.  He fled Germany to avoid service in the Great War and lived in Geneva and Zurich where he became a Dadaist; these two cities being centres for the movement.  In the first half of the twenties he travelled in Italy studying the great Italian painters.  After a time in Vienna he moved with his wife to Berlin in the late twenties.

Schad moved from his initial cubist and futurist styles to embrace what Fox Talbot had originally called photogenic drawings; pictures created by placing objects onto photo sensitive paper and then exposing them to sunlight.  His works using found objects in this medium, which were christened Schadographs, later influenced Man Ray.  Following his journeys in Italy, however, and his exposure to the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) movement in Berlin, he devloped a cool, realistic approach to painting influenced by the clarity of Raphael's paintings. A couple of years after this picture was pinted Schad developed an interest in eastern philosophy and his output dwindled to virtually nothing.  When the Nazis came to power he was considered too unimportant to worry about (unlike Dix and Grosz whose art was declared "degenerate" and burned).

This picture of two girls comes from right in that Neue Sachlichkeit period.  There is none of the anatomical exaggeration or deliberate ugliness of  Otto Dix or George Grosz.  The two girls are apart, masturbating seperately but one gazes longlingly at the other whilst she fingers herself.  What is the relationship between the two?  Are they lovers?  If so why are they apart?  Are they just non lesbian friends or even sisters just discovering their sexuality together? 

A cool, intriguing and erotic painting.

Lesbian Joy by Helmut Stockmann

We've not been able to find anything out about this delightful picture other than it was painted in 1920 by Helmut Stockmann who also produced a number of erotic cartoons and, strangely, recruitment posters during the Nazi period in Germany. 

It's the matching hair and stockings we like!