Who says those Victorians were uptight!? They just had different notions of what was proper to do in public - they knew what was what! Peter Gay has mined this theme extensively in his scholarship, albeit with a Freudian program.

Academic eroticism used to be derided as worthless kitsch, althoughthe non-Academy work of the British Pre-Raphaelites has always been valued. The pendulum has swung the other way so that some of the worst of it is now treated seriously, but these examples you post here are wonderful.

Consider a man like W.A. Bouguereau, about whom, I think, you have made some favorable comments. I would agree with my teacher who said of him, “Great painter, lousy artist.” His paintings are boring - a poor follower of Ingres. Not these.

BTW, perhaps you know of Walter Pater? I am sure you would find him of interest.

Fascinating that during the early modern period, the measure of an architect was to some degree how beautiful a chair he could design…

function follows form

J

Ben nog een beetje aan het rondkijken geweest en deze lijken mij ook interessant over het onderwerp:

*Spanking the Maid by Robert Coover
*Virginie by John Hawkes

*Daphne Merkin’s Dreaming of Hitler.

Het laatste non-fictie

J