Mark Rotenberg

This is a wonderful collection of old erotic photographs, from a period starting in the 1870s, which portray men and women engaged in a variety of erotic acts. Many depictions of the human body in the period concerned felt constrained then, by legal or moral pressures to employ the conceit of being 'artistic', rather than being simply intended to arouse basic human instincts, even though they often have this latter effect even if they are also visually satisfying as 'art'. The work presented here is so explicit in its content that attempts at the former effect would be useless; the many images contained in the volume would have been intended for private collection and minimal display, with arousal being their principal aim. Compared with their modern equivalent the images show a true innocence, unsullied by current commercial standards, and their impact today is probably little different from what it was in the years following the rise of the popular art of photography. They are explicit, although examples that are still illegal or offensive have been avoided, but their erotic innocence shines though constantly. The book contains a huge number of images, and is accompanied by a short essay by Laura Mirsky that sets the art form into social and artistic contexts, and a revealing interview by Mirsky with Mark Rotenberg, the collector and owner of the material. Required reading for those interested in erotic aspects of the Victorian/Edwardian social context.… (meer)