Untitled (erotic portrait),

ca. 1854

Despite efforts by the French government to curtail a clandestine erotic photography market during the medium’s early decades, the trade was so profitable that many photographers were willing to risk arrest to stay in the business. Photographers would mail licentious images to customers and then shift the location of their studios, making them difficult for police censors to find. As seen in this image, early erotic photographs rarely suggest signs of pleasure for the female models, who were often prostitutes. This woman’s uncomfortable expression, her eye contact with the viewer, and her seemingly uninterested acceptance of the sexual encounter reinforce her role as an erotic object.