Category Archives: eroticism

Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like

300px-Madame_X_by_SargeantDying Adonis by Goltzius

Click for credits

“Physically, men and women are generally attracted to each other because of their differences. Ask any group of men from any culture to assess the attractiveness of a female, and they will tend to opt for the figure which curves where they are flat, is soft where they are strong and — though this may be a matter for aesthetic as much as scientific debate — swells where they are narrow. The same, in reverse, is true of women, who will tend to express a preference for men with broad shoulders tapering to narrow hips. … Yet in every other respect, we expect the sexes to be attracted to each other because of their similarities. Any computer-dating questionnaire will try to match intellectual like with like. —Brain Sex


Through mine eye the stroke from her did slide, directly down unto my heart it ran

DSC01551

My eye, a couple of minutes ago

A continuation of “ocular eroticism”, ocular eroticism III

“Through mine eye the stroke from her did slide,
Directly down unto my heart it ran.” —Thomas Wyatt

Full poem:

So unwarely was never no man caught
With steadfast look upon a goodly face
As I of late; for suddenly, me thought,
My heart was torn out of his place.
Thorough mine eye the stroke from hers did slide
Directly down unto my heart it ran.
In help whereof the blood thereto did glide,
And left my face both pale and wan.
Then was I like a man for woe amazed,
Or like the bird that flyeth into the fire;
For while that I on her beauty gazed,
The more I burnt in my desire.
Anon the blood start in my face again,
Enflamed with heat that it had at my heart,
And brought therewith throughout in every vein
A quickened heat with pleasant smart.
Then was I like the straw, when that the flame
Is driven therein by force and rage of wind.
I can not tell, alas, what I shall blame,
Nor what to seek nor what to find.
But well I wot the grief holds me so sore
In heat and cold betwixt hope and dread,
That but her help to health doth me restore
This restless life I may not lead.

Ocular eroticism II

The ocular eroticism mentioned in my previous post appears to be a niche art criticism trope.

Evidence:

Essays in Critical Materialism

Reconfiguring the Renaissance: Essays in Critical Materialism – Page 159

by Jonathan V. Crewe – Renaissance – 171 pages

37 The same model of what we may call “ocular eroticism” informs secular literature as well: one thinks of Wyatt’s “Through mine eye the stroke from her did …
Transcendence, Desire, and the Limits of ...

Eroticism on the Renaissance Stage: Transcendence, Desire, and the Limits of … – Page 103

by Celia R. Daileader – Performing Arts – 1998 – 194 pages

… displacing the “ocular eroticism” prevalent from Plato through Wyatt – an eroticism which pertained to the longing for one’s lady as well as the longing …
Reading the Medieval in Early Modern England

Reading the Medieval in Early Modern England – Page 208

by Gordon McMullan, David Matthews – Drama – 2007 – 287 pages

… point is that Mary’s ‘erotic fragrance’ — a vestigial remnant of medieval ‘ocular eroticism‘ — presupposes the importance of Mary’s physical knowledge …
Shakespeare the Actor and the Purposes of Playing

Shakespeare the Actor and the Purposes of Playing – Page 134

by Meredith Anne Skura – Performing Arts – 1993 – 325 pages

… particularly of the erotics of the gaze.50 The ocular eroticism associated with the hunt in general in Love’s Labour’s Lost is here epitomized in …
The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima

The Madness and Perversion of Yukio Mishima – Page 70

by Jerry S. Piven – Literary Criticism – 2004 – 273 pages

… which is also consistent with Mishima’s ocular eroticism as simultaneously retaining, destroying, and merging with those on whom he gazes, …

Sexual Aliveness: A Reichian Gestalt Perspective

by Edward W. L. Smith – Self-Help – 1987 – 126 pages

Gotta love Google books.

My tongue would penetrate her eyelids

Claude Nicolas Ledoux has the best public domain eye. The best in the non-public domain area is the eye from Bunuel's An Andalusian Dog.

Claude Nicolas Ledoux has the best public domain eye.

The best in the non-public domain area is the eye from Bunuel’s An Andalusian Dog.

French blog Au carrefour étrange has a post on ocular eroticism.

Story of the Eye invariably comes to mind, but to our subject at hand:

I quote from Au carrefour étrange[1] who quotes from La vie sexuelle de Robinson Crusoe:

« J’ai connu une femme dont j’embrassais l’œil en introduisant ma langue entre ses paupières et son orgasme alors était intarissable » (Michel Gall. p.89)
« I once knew a woman whose eyes I kissed and my tongue would penetrate her eyelids, she would then climax to the point of exhaustion» (Michel Gall. p.89)

I love books or films which start with the sexual life of….

La vie sexuelle de Robinson Crusoe

Examples in this category include The Sexual Life of Catherine M., The Sexual life of the Belgians, The Sexual Life of the Savages and now this The Sexual life of Robinson Crusoe.

Emmanuel Pierrat has called The Sexual life of Robinson Crusoe a small masterpiece. It is not available in an English translation.

Digression:

Here the An Andalusian Dog eye, just before being slashed, with the beautiful Argentinian tango in the background.

I’ve posted the razor scene before, it’s about the last place online where you can still see the still and the film[3]

Here is the tango scene with a nice colorized pre-razor still of the film.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17OAI5M4tI]

Un Chien Andalou (1929) – Luis Buñuel [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Un Chien Andalou is World Cinema Classic @69

Gratuitous nudity #13

Women of Domai is filled with world class instances of gratuitous nudity, such as these hourglass shaped figures [1][2].

Bathing in an almost infantile innocence, Domai’s content[3] is a welcome interruption to the more explicit and sometimes abject stroke material most of us find on our internet travels.

Their editors are have a sense of humor and a level of sophistication:

“Last Sunday I was up early for once. (To quote Robert Heinlein: “Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”) I went for a walk in the quiet town.”–Eolake Stobblehouse via [4]

Saint Anthony at the movies

Perhaps the ultimate and most underrated dream vision (underrated because it is not recognized as a dream vision) in the history of Western literature is the The Temptation of St. Anthony, here [1] painted by Domenico Morelli as Le Tentazioni di Sant’Antonio, also the title of an Italian film of 1911 which depicts Flaubert’s version.

Domenico Morelli - Le tentazioni di Sant'Antonio by you.

[1] painted by Domenico Morelli as Le Tentazioni di Sant’Antonio,

Saint Anthony has not been popular among writers nor filmmakers but has been very influential to painters, the dream visions lend themselves perfectly to exploring taboo subject matter.

Temptation of Saint Anthony by Melies with woman on cross by you.

[2]

Only two notable filmmakers had a go at the story, Georges Méliès in 1898 and the aforementioned Italian version of 1911.

Then there is the curious case of The Private Affairs of Bel Ami[3]. For the realisation of this film Loew-Lewin Productions announced a “Temptation of St. Anthony” contest. David Loew and Albert Lewin had persuaded twelve modern artists to paint Anthony’s vision. Each artist was commissioned for $500. Max Ernst was the $3,000 prizewinner.

The work was to be shown in a close-up at a key moment in the film.

max_ernst_anthony by youngmanblues.

[4]

Although Max Ernst‘s rendition (here[5] in a better scan) was the winning work, Salvador Dalí‘s contribution[6] (featuring a parade of spider-legged elephants tormenting the saint) went on the become better-known.

Introducing Harry/i Peccinotti

penguin75_frontcover by bsjohnson_info.

Penguin Modern Poets 25 also features a photograph of female lips smoking a cigarette, one of his trademark image tropes.

The Woman of Rome by Moravia by you.

Alberto Moravia‘s 1976 Penguin edition of The Woman of Rome

I haven’t properly introduced Harri Peccinotti, the man celebrated in the previous post on Nova magazine.

Harry Peccinotti (born 1938, London, UK) is a photographer and art director. He was Nova magazine‘s first art director and regular photographer throughout. He also did the Pirelli Calendars of 1968 and 1969, with designer Derek Birdsall.

He also provided the cover photograph for Alberto Moravia‘s 1976 Penguin edition of The Woman of Rome and contributed photographs to The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics.

Penguin Modern Poets 25 also features a photograph of female lips smoking a cigarette, one of his trademark image tropes.

He has designed record sleeves for Esquire Records.

He is still working with fashion stylists such as Charlotte Stockdale and Antje Winter.

Nova magazine 1965 – 1975

Nova 1965 - 1975 by Pavillion Books

[Amazon.com]
[FR] [DE] [UK]

Check these prices! Cheapest at €250, most expensive at €800. More on expensive books over at Bookride.

I found out about Nova magazine when researching Harri Peccinotti

Pirelli 1969 – Harri Peccinotti

Nova magazine was a monthly British style magazine of the “Swinging London” era published from March 1965 until October 1975. It foreshadows publications such as The Face and i-D. Molly Parkin was the founder and first fashion editor at Nova, she was succeeded in 1967 by Caroline Baker who collaborated with the likes of Helmut Newton, Harri Peccinotti and Hans Feurer, Byron Newman and Armet Francis.

The book Nova 1965-1975, compiled by David Hillman and Harri Peccinotti, and edited by David Gibbs, was published by Pavilion Books in 1993.

P.S. I’m looking for a scan of Up Tight by Parkin with Harry Peccinotti’s cover shot of a French model wearing see-through knickers. Anyone?

See also:

http://magculture.com/blog/?p=587
http://stylebubble.typepad.com/style_bubble/2007/07/where-it-all-be.html

Introducing Undead Film Critic

Introducing Undead Film Critic.

Country Doc via Undead Film Critic

What is Country Doc?

From its first post[1] to its latest[2], exploitation film posters, big breasts and low culture mouthwatering visuals galore. Similar blogs include Hugo Strikes Back, PCL Linkdump, Groovy Age of Horror and Bxzzines.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjhTM5zxlsM]

“C’est Beau la Bourgeoisie”

And while we’re at it, Georgy sent us this guiltiest of pleasure: Discobitch‘s “C’est Beau la Bourgeoisie” [3]. C’est pour la petty bourgeoisie.

The song is in the vein of “Perfect” by Princess Superstar and “Yeah Yeah” by Bodyrox (who started the “rockist” use of synths in dance tracks).