Reader's Diary (Week 6)

Man is a masochistic animal!
(Unknown, 1936)

The Power of Women

Since the down of civilization men celebrated the power of Women. Even the Bible, the Good Book, includes many stories of strong Women winning over men. Sex, violence and supernatural happenings were always important sources of inspirations for visual artists. The pictorial and narrative excitement of biblical Women's narratives, full of sexual sentiment, has been interpreted in many different ways over the ages.

The Fall of Man

Netherlandish prints of the 16th century gave viewers not only new ways of relating to Scripture, but also allowed ordinary people to buy such items to use in their homes for their own "devotional purposes".  No surprise the series dedicated to the "Power of Women" have been very popular. Captioned with a quotation from Ecclesiasticus: "All evil is small in comparison to the evil of a Woman", the prints should also illustrate Women's ability to make fools of even the wisest and most powerful men.

Salome

Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533), a Dutch engraver and painter, created two series of woodcuts (The Large Power of Women in 1514 and The Small Power of Women in 1517) and several engravings of the theme. He also included picture of Virgil in a basket into his series. According to legend, Virgil fell in love with the Roman emperor's Daughter. She promised to raise him in Her bedroom in a basket, but left him dangling halfway to be mocked by passersby the following day.

Poet Virgil Suspended in a Basket

Solomon's Idolatry

Philips Galle (1537-1612), Dutch engraver, designer and printmaker, published around 1569 a series called The Power of Women.

Jael slaying Sisera

Judith slaying Holofernes

Samson and Delilah

Classical interpretation of these images would be a warning against the destructive power of Women. They are no longer the abstract type of Virgin, Women on these pictures are transformed into vengeful, bloodthirsty creatures. However, such explanation ignores explicit erotism and masochistic pleasure embodied in these pictures.

Goddess of my Dreams

Reader's Diary (Week 5)

Thou sensual, supersensual libertine, a little Girl can lead thee by the nose.
(Goethe, 1808)

Vaclav Hollar as fur fetishist

Vaclav Hollar (1607-1677) is probably the most famous Czech visual artist. He started with graphics in Prague under Aegidius Sadeler, the Imperial engraver of Rudolf II. Hollar left Prague in 1627 (his family were protestant and Catolics just gained the upper hand in Bohemia). He became very successful etcher, travelled around whole Europe, but spent most of his life in England, where he also died, poor as a church mouse. Hollar produced over 2740 plates with different motives from portraits to landscapes, made illustrations for many books, etched maps, reproduced works of other artists...

Hollar's speciality was depicting fur. He produced an entire series of fur prints. Fur had rarely been attempted in prints before Hollar, although it was frequently the subject of portrait painters. But Hollar is said to have been the first artist to promote fur as independent subject. His fur muffs, arranged into still-life groups, have undeniably sensual and sexual implications.

All these finely detailed prints of Feminine finery are full of fetishistic fascination. You can tell the love that was put into every line and repeated selections of luxury Feminine adornments, sometimes carefully pilled together, clearly show his intense erotic interest.

For Femdom fans, however, the most interesting would be probably the memorably allegory of Winter - Woman figure with masked face and fur accessories and rather interesting inscription:

The cold, not cruelty, makes Her weare | In Winter, furrs and Wild Beastshaire | For a smother skinn at night | Embraceth Her with more delight

Why Hollar even mentions cruelty? The picture pointedly negates the text and is very clear - it depicts mythic figure of the fur-clad cruel Feminine despot, Venus in Furs, 226 years before Sacher-Masoch published his famous novel.

Femdom in Comics - Timely Comics

Timely Comics (1939-1950), predecessor of Marvel Comics, published a couple of ongoing romance/humor titles in mid forties aimed at Female readers. The output is rather uninteresting for Femdom enthusiasts, but some covers worth mentioning:

Reader's Diary (Week 4)

My passion for my Mistress had become extremely unruly, and my whole life had assumed a kind of monastic savagery.
(Musset, 1836)