The Un s poken collection of naughty nuances
Arts and Literature
K. Copstick
Torsos, sex parts
“‘Dir
ty Ar
t’ wa
s an a
nnou
ncem
ent o
r affi
rmati
on of
his h
omos
exual
ity.”
Left: Keith Harring by Warhol Right: Torso 1977
D
Art and literature
& Dirty Art In the fall of 1977, Andy Warhol began work on two new series of artworks which would become known as Torsos and Sex Parts. While the Torsos paintings would quickly be praised for following in the “high art” style of classical nudes, the Sex Parts series from which Torsos was borne blurred the line between art and pornography.
In creating the artworks, Warhol was probably inspired by
classical nudes and erotic art which have been depicted throughout history. Sexuality in artwork can be found as early as 35,000 BC in central Europe with the erotic sculptures of the Venus of Hohle Fels and later the Venus of Willendorf statuettes, all of which have enlarged breasts and well-defined genitalia. In addition, sexual acts were displayed on vases in Ancient Greece from the 6th Century BC with images of Zeus engaging with his male lover Ganymede, as well as scenes of coitus on Etruscan vases and erotic frescos uncovered in Pompeii. Classical nudes, some homoerotic, are also present in works from the Renaissance, as witnessed in Goya’s Las Maja Desnuda and Titian’s Venus of Urbino. Warhol would have been taught about such historical works during his Art History classes at Carnegie Tech, and their impact is evident in this exhibition.
Left: Torso 1977 Right: Male Torso 1977
Top left: Coat-stand 1920 Top Right: Kiki de Montparnasse 1922
M
Art and LITERATURE
Man Ray’s Photography Man Ray (August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976), born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Described as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements; although his ties to each were informal. Best known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, Ray produced major works in a variety of media and was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer, even though he considered himself a painter above all. Ray is also noted for his work with photograms, with the artist coining the term “Rayographs” in reference to himself.
From the time he began attracting attention as an artist
until his death more than sixty years later, Man Ray allowed little of his early life or family background to be known to the public, even refusing to acknowledge that he ever had a name other than Man Ray.
Man Ray was born Emmanuel Radnitzky in South
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA in 1890, the eldest child of recent Russian Jewish immigrants. The family would eventually include another son and two daughters, the youngest born shortly after they settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, in 1897. In early 1912, the Radnitzky family changed their surname to Ray, a name selected by Man Ray’s brother, in reaction to the Left: Kiki de Montparnasse 1922
ethnic discrimination and anti-Semitism prevalent at that time. Emmanuel, who was called “Manny” as a nickname, changed his first name to Man at this time, and gradually began to use Man Ray as his combined single name.
Art and LITERATURE
U
N U D E R
the
Top: Tijuana Bible 1922
C
O
U N T
ER
Tijuana bibles (also known as bluesies, eight-pagers, gray-backs, Jiggs-and-Maggie books, jo-jo books, Tillie-and-Mac books, and two-by-fours, were pornographic comic books produced in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era. The typical “bible” was an 8-panel comic strip in a wallet-size 2.5×4 inch format (approximately 7x10.5 cm) with black print on cheap white paper and running eight pages in length. In most cases the artists, writers, and publishers of these are unknown. The quality of the artwork varied widely. The subjects are explicit sexual escapades usually featuring well known newspaper comic strip characters, political figures, or movie stars, invariably used without permission. Tijuana bibles repeated ethnic stereotypes found in popular culture at the time.
People distributed Tijuana bibles “under the counter” in places
such as schools, garages, cigar stores, burlesque houses, and barber shops. The term “Tijuana bibles” refers to the apocryphal belief that they were manufactured and smuggled across the border from Tijuana, Mexico.
P
politics
Politica
PROSTITUTES
l
The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal began on March 10, 2008, when The New York Times reported that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer of the Democratic Party had patronized a prostitution service called Emperors Club VIP.[1] This ultimately led him to announce his resignation as governor on March 12, effective March 17.
Governor Spitzer, referred to as “Client–9” in an affidavit
filed in US Federal Court,[3] arranged to meet at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on February 13, 2008 with a prostitute named “Kristen” — an “American, petite, very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches and 105 pounds” (165 cm, 47 kg). “Kristen” was later identified as the 22 year old Ashley Dupré.
“Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.” S h e i n t e n d e d t o t r a v e l f r o m N e w Yo r k C i t y f o r t h e p l a n n e d tryst and Spitzer agreed in advance that he “would be paying for everything — train tickets, cab fare from the hotel and back, mini-bar or room service, travel time and hotel”.[6] After the assignation on February 13, 2008, Spitzer paid her $4,300 in cash. The payment included $1,100 as a deposit with the agency toward future services.
S
politics
SAVE A
HORSE
RIDE A
QUEEN
Contrer y to belief, Russian leader from the 18th centur y, Catherine the great, was rumored to have passed away while having sexual intercorse with a horse. This unfor tunate rumor about one of histor y’s most power ful and interesting women is known to most people as a beastite, but the combination of per verse rudeness and the relative foreignness of its subject makes this a per fect slander.
So if Catherine didn’t die while attempting sex with a
horse (and just to reiterate, she absolutely, 100% didn’t), how did the myth arise? During past centuries the easiest way for people to of fend and verbally attack their female enemies was sex. Marie Antoinette, the hated queen of France,
“but her voracious sexual appetite — while modest by modern standards — meant that the rumours had to b e e v e n w ilder.” was subjected to printed myths so deviant and obscene they wo u l d m a ke s p a m e m a i l e r s b l u s h a n d c e r t a i n l y c a n ’ t b e reproduced here. Catherine the Great was always going to attract rumours about her sex life, but her voracious sexual appetite – while modest by modern standards - meant that the rumours had to be even wilder. Historians believe the horse myth originated in France, among the French upper classes, soon af ter Catherine’s death as a way to mar her legend.
V
politics
Victoria’s “Virgins” Victorian morality is a distillation of the moral views of people living at the time of Queen Victoria’s reign (1837–1901) and of the moral climate of the United Kingdom throughout the 19th centur y in general, which contrasted greatly with the morality of the previous Georgian period. Victorian morality can describe any set of values that espouse sexual restraint, low tolerance of crime and a strict social code of conduct. Due to the prominence of the British Empire, many of these values were spread across the world.
The term “Victorian” was first used during The Great
Exhibition in London (1851), where Victorian inventions and m o r a l s we r e s h ow n to t h e wo r l d . [ 1 ] V i c to r i a n va l u e s we r e developed in all facets of Victorian living. The morality and values of the Victorians can be classed under Religion, Morality, Elitism, Industrialism and Improvement. These values take root in Victorian morality, creating an overall change in the British Empire.
Historians now regard the Victorian era as a time of
many contradictions, such as the widespread cultivation of an outward appearance of dignity and restraint together with the prevalence of social phenomena such as prostitution and child labour. A plethora of social movements arose from attempts to improve the prevailing harsh living conditions for many under a rigid class system. Right: Theatrical Promotional Poster 1931
s s e r g n Co
OF
K
religion
g n i d HEr
S W O C
kama sutra lifestyle The Kama Sutra is an ancient
presents itself as a guide to a
Indian Hindu text widely considered
virtuous and gracious living that
to be the standard work on human
discusses the nature of love, family
sexual behavior in Sanskrit litera-
life and other aspects pertaining to
ture written by Vātsyāyana.
pleasure oriented faculties of
A portion of the work consists of
human life.
practical advice on sexual
intercourse. It is largely in prose,
oldest and most notable of a group
with many inserted anustubh poetry
of texts known generically as Kama
verses. “Kāma” which is one of the
Shastra. Traditionally, the first
three goals of Hindu life, means
transmission of Kama Shastra or
sensual or sexual pleasure, and
“Discipline of Kama” is attributed
“sūtra” literally means a thread
to Nandi the sacred bull, Shiva’s
or line that holds things together,
doorkeeper, who was moved to
and more metaphorically refers to
sacred utterance by overhearing the
an aphorism (or line, rule, formula),
lovemaking of the god and his wife
or a collection of such aphorisms
Parvati and later recorded his
in the form of a manual. Contrary
utterances for the benefit
to popular perception, especially in
of mankind.
the western world, Kama sutra is not just an exclusive sex manual; it
The Kama Sutra is the
G Garden of Earthly Delights The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych painted by Hieronymus Bosch. From the Neitherlands, this piece has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Being his most intricat work, Boch worked on this piece during the time of 1490 and 1520. Being a middle aged man at the time, his skills had been far more developed than in the past and it shows the artist at the peak of his talent; in no other painting does he achieve such complexity of meaning or such vivid imagery.
“erotic derangement that turns us all into voyeurs, a place filled with the intoxicating air of perfect liberty� The triptych is painted in oil on oak and is formed from a square middle panel flanked by two other oak rectangular wings that close over the center as shutters. The outer wings, when folded, show a grisaille painting of the earth during the biblical myth of Creation. The three scenes of the inner triptych are probably (but not necessarily) intended to be read chronologically from left to right. The left panel depicts God presenting Eve to Adam, the central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation.
Page: Garden of earlthy Delights, 1490
Politics
Sex, Society
e r o M Sex just got interesting Society has always been interested in the topic of sex. From the act of it, to watching it, to learning about it in sex education, the subject matter never ceases to entertain. The Unspoken is a collection of subtopics that tell the story of sex throughout our society covering topics in Religion, Arts and Literature, and Politics.
“Provoking, sexy, and intimate.” The New York Post “One of the most informative and interesting reads.” The Wall Street Journal “It was hard to put down. Literally.” The New York Times
ISBN 0-8074-1430-00