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Ah, Valentine’s day, the day of love… (Part 3)
Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. One of their false beliefs connected with this festival was that the names of girls who had reached marriageable age would be written on small rolls of paper and placed in a dish on a table. Then the young men who wanted to get married would be called, and each of them would pick a piece of paper. He would put himself at the service of the girl whose name he had drawn for one year so that they could find out about one another. Then they would get married, or they would repeat the same process again on the day of…
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Ah, Valentine’s day, the day of love… (Part 1)
The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love. — Valentine’s Day— the name of the holiday conjures up childhood images of heart-shaped greeting cards, chubby cupids, and giggly public-school romancing. Yet this holiday, like most others, has been commercially exploited. Nowadays all true sentimentalists, from hard-core prodigals to casual window shoppers, must go to great lengths to avoid the thousands of varieties of mass-produced Valentine’s cards, candles and assorted knick-knacks which are displayed along the routes of their once-dreamy rambles. Romantic purists will undoubtedly appreciate the non-commercial origins of “lover’s day”, for though It Is now just…
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Hot for cold evenings
Whether you’re alone or with special someone, skip the flowers, resist the chocolate. Look for love under the covers — of a book. Below is the recommendation for the best titles for long autumn evenings. Sex in the cities Professor of the cultural history of erotic art, Hans-Jürgen Dopp has been gathering erotic works of art for more than thirty years. His collection has an international reputation, developed by his numerous publications and exhibitions. This exceptional boxed set compiles three books which explore the material expressions of eroticism throughout three European capitals: Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris. The author also chose to confront themes such as eroticism and pornography, or the…
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The Japanese art world, the flesh, the devil
Modern art has always been widely discussed. We all know some people who claim they could have done the same (maybe even you said it; the Tate saved you their best wall). There are also those who get their kicks out of an abandoned pair of glasses sitting on the ground. This debate being nowhere near its end, let’s just agree to never agree and mutually concede one simple thing: in the contemporary art world, Japan is a UFO. For all the Jeff Koonses and Damien Hirsts on the artsy planet, for all the prattle and tattle that come with their kind, none came closer, and with such a truly…
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The Many Faces of Sex in Contemporary Art
“Sex and art are the same thing.” Picasso said that. Well, I’ve tried both and no, Picasso, they’re not. But he still has a point there. (It’s Picasso after all!) In the history of mankind, people couldn’t help but having sex. And art couldn’t help but making it one of its main subjects. Sex rarely fails to attract attention, advertisement knows that. There’s beauty in it. Moreover, there’s a whole variety of emotions and concepts that can be expressed through sexuality. Nobody is more aware of it than contemporary artists. Let’s take two examples… We usually don’t tend to see sex as something that creates relations of power. It does…
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Shunga: Traditional Japanese Pornography
Manga? Yes Anime? Yes Shunga? Ummmm… That’s one that not many people have heard of. Literally translated as “picture of spring”, it is an age-old Japanese erotic art form usually printed on woodblock. A sub genre of ukiyo-e, Shunga (春画) reached its pinnacle in the Edo Period from 1603 to 1867 and survived repeated government attempts at suppression. However, before they were shunned their widespread use and availability was commonplace and endeavoured to depict everyday life in the Edo. Carried around as lucky charms by Samurais and merchants as well as being offered to newly-wed’s as a type of sex education; shunga was accepted and used by everyone, regardless of…
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Fragonard: Child’s play / it’s not all fun and games
“Ready or not, here I come!” Children and adults alike are known to utter this phrase when messing around and playing playground games. From personal experience it was mostly in “hide and seek” but we also used it in “blind man’s bluff”. Blind man’s bluff (originally called Blindman’s Buff) has been around for thousands of years and has been traced as far back as Ancient Greece. Although it varies from playground to playground, the simple nature of the game means that is played all across the word. The game also lends its name to an 18th century painting by French artist Fragonard. This typical Rococo painting consists of two young…
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