The Erotic Man Ray

[Mistress Sophia Katz]

Most are familiar with the surrealist/dadist artist, Man Ray.  Born in the tail end of the Victorian era, Man Ray was one of the first artists to experiment with still image photography.  One of his most well known works is the photograph "Le Violon D'Ingris."

"

What most don't realize that Man Ray also experimented with photographs depicting fetish and bondage scenarios.  He did this in the 1930s-1940s, where such depictions of S&M would be considered quite taboo.  Of all his fetish photography, most famous and widely reproduced  is probably the photograph "Woman in Mask"

That being said, he had many which could be considered quite risque for the time (or even now.) Here are two from his series "Reclining Woman in Bondage"

Man Ray also collaborated with the infamous traveler and journalist, William Seabrook, to create a series of  images called "The Fantasies of Mr. SeaBrook."

 

Man Ray also did a series of portrait of photographer, Lee Miller, in a collar posing with Seabrook

[Lonewolf]

MISTRESS SOPHIA KATZ...these images are very similar to the works of Irving Klaw many years ago and are most erotically indicative of the universal enthusiasm and endless appeal of female nude bondage as it relates to ultra male eroticism...I personally hope to indulge in YOUR most captivating presence of SULTRY IRRESISTIBLE BEAUTY and unfathomable SADISTIC PROCLIVITIES in about 2 unbearable weeks without YOU...Lonewolf so pathetically entrapped by YOUR insidious ultra TORTUROUS PERFECTION personified interminably.

[captyveny]

As I've said many times, the women at Fortress are not only beautiful, erotically skilled, but extremely intelligent and worldly. I know of the "cello" Man Ray, which was alluded to in Warren Beatty's Town and Country, with a nude woman playing the cello, but the others were true revelations. Thank you, as always.

[job1617]

Wow! I had no idea. Thank You for sharing. 

[Mistress Kang]

These days BDSM is almost mainstream. I wonder if BDSM was even more exciting for participants because of how extremely taboo it still was back then. 

[Mistress Justine Shankar]

These are so beautiful, thanks for sharing, Mistress Katz! I knew he and Lee Miller were together for some time and collaborated with one another, but I'd never seen the last few photos.

[questionmarks]

These days BDSM is almost mainstream. I wonder if BDSM was even more exciting for participants because of how extremely taboo it still was back then. 

 

It must have seemed all the more mysterious and alluring in the days before everyone had seen cheesy TV ad dominatrixes and the like. Imagine seeing these images before you'd ever seen representation of such a thing... what would you think!?

 

That said, I do still hear a lot of people refer to bdsm only as an oddity they scarcely believe to be real, and even friends of mine familiar with my proclivities often have little imagination for what might go on inside the walls of a dungeon apart from being bound and beaten. (And even when it comes to bondage and corporal punishment, their imagination is often rather limited!) 

[Dannyboy]

These days BDSM is almost mainstream. I wonder if BDSM was even more exciting for participants because of how extremely taboo it still was back then. 

Dear Ms. Kang:

 

I can't say that it was more exciting then. I suggest, though, that it was available to the elite and not considered to belong to those of ordinary means and station in life.

 

Dannyboy

[Mistress Alexia Zito]

Dear Ms. Kang:

 

I can't say that it was more exciting then. I suggest, though, that it was available to the elite and not considered to belong to those of ordinary means and station in life.

 

Dannyboy

Dannyboy, that is an interesting point! I wonder when, do you think, bdsm "trickled down" ?

[Mistress Alexia Zito]

I loooove vintage bdsm photos! Thank you for sharing Katz!

[Dannyboy]

Dannyboy, that is an interesting point! I wonder when, do you think, bdsm "trickled down" ?

Dear Ms. Zito:

 

Painting with a broad brush, there were a number of factors that dovetailed over a time span of years to a decade or more. In the USA, say after the late 50's, there was sustained economic growth, improvement of working conditions, more disposable income, more leisure time and loosening attitudes about sex and sexual information.

 

There were free speech movements, sexual freedom movements and Court decisions up to the Supreme Court giving more leeway to books with sexual content. There was the incident in New Jersey in 1965 when a dungeon in Newark, NJ, operated by Monique van Cleef was raided by police bringing more attention to the existence of S & M. 

 

Swingers magazines proliferated in the 60's and Mistresses advertised and contacts were made my mail. Screw magazine was established including advertisements for houses of prostitution and Mistresses. S & M clubs came into existence and some dungeons opened. The first one that I became aware of was Belle de Jour. 

 

Anyone seeking a Mistress could easily, by the 1970's, find one. It was not mainstream then but was available to the masses and easily found through the media. Sex shops operated by that time and many toys considered illegal could now be purchased over the counter.

 

When Giuliani became mayor he did great damage to the sex industry but cleaned up the Times Square area. Mistresses and dungeons differentiated themselves from the prostitution industry by eliminating certain sexual acts and adapting to new rules. That ensured their survival.

 

So the trickling started around the 60's and is now mainstream. The Fortress could not have been conceived without all that happened before the Headmistress was born.

 

Dannyboy

[Mistress Vivienne Fang]

The forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. I can't imagine the rush that BDSM devotees back then had looking at these...

[Mistress Zenobia Brinks]

Most are familiar with the surrealist/dadist artist, Man Ray. Born in the tail end of the Victorian era, Man Ray was one of the first artists to experiment with still image photography. One of his most well known works is the photograph "

Le Violon D'Ingris."

ingre-s-violin-1924.jpg"

What most don't realize that Man Ray also experimented with photographs depicting fetish and bondage scenarios. He did this in the 1930s-1940s, where such depictions of S&M would be considered quite taboo. Of all his fetish photography, most famous and widely reproduced is probably the photograph "Woman in Mask"

Man Ray woman in Mask.png

That being said, he had many which could be considered quite risque for the time (or even now.) Here are two from his series "Reclining Woman in Bondage"

2453e0765fd7e850ee8add9b66d5521f.jpg man-ray-reclining-woman-in-bondage.jpg

Man Ray also collaborated with the infamous traveler and journalist, William Seabrook, to create a series of images called "The Fantasies of Mr. SeaBrook."

man_ray_seabrook.jpg Man_Ray_seebrook.jpeg man-ray-les-fantaisies-de-mr-seabrook-suzy-solidor-1930.jpg seabrook4.jpg seabrook5.jpg seabrook6.jpg

 

Man Ray also did a series of portrait of photographer, Lee Miller, in a collar posing with Seabrook

lee_miller_william_seabrook.jpg

Wow super cool, thanks for sharing.

[Mistress Sophia Katz]

MISTRESS SOPHIA KATZ...these images are very similar to the works of Irving Klaw many years ago and are most erotically indicative of the universal enthusiasm and endless appeal of female nude bondage as it relates to ultra male eroticism...I personally hope to indulge in YOUR most captivating presence of SULTRY IRRESISTIBLE BEAUTY and unfathomable SADISTIC PROCLIVITIES in about 2 unbearable weeks without YOU...Lonewolf so pathetically entrapped by YOUR insidious ultra TORTUROUS PERFECTION personified interminably.

I will have to check out Irving Klaw, Thank you for the recommendation.

[Mistress Sophia Katz]

As I've said many times, the women at Fortress are not only beautiful, erotically skilled, but extremely intelligent and worldly. I know of the "cello" Man Ray, which was alluded to in Warren Beatty's Town and Country, with a nude woman playing the cello, but the others were true revelations. Thank you, as always.

 

 

Wow! I had no idea. Thank You for sharing. 

 

 

These are so beautiful, thanks for sharing, Mistress Katz! I knew he and Lee Miller were together for some time and collaborated with one another, but I'd never seen the last few photos.

 

 

I loooove vintage bdsm photos! Thank you for sharing Katz!

 

 

Wow super cool, thanks for sharing.

I am glad you all enjoyed these images.  It is always interesting to see old BDSM photography, especially from well known artists.

[GuyFromNYC]

Dear Ms. Zito:

 

Painting with a broad brush, there were a number of factors that dovetailed over a time span of years to a decade or more. In the USA, say after the late 50's, there was sustained economic growth, improvement of working conditions, more disposable income, more leisure time and loosening attitudes about sex and sexual information.

 

There were free speech movements, sexual freedom movements and Court decisions up to the Supreme Court giving more leeway to books with sexual content. There was the incident in New Jersey in 1965 when a dungeon in Newark, NJ, operated by Monique van Cleef was raided by police bringing more attention to the existence of S & M. 

 

Swingers magazines proliferated in the 60's and Mistresses advertised and contacts were made my mail. Screw magazine was established including advertisements for houses of prostitution and Mistresses. S & M clubs came into existence and some dungeons opened. The first one that I became aware of was Belle de Jour. 

 

Anyone seeking a Mistress could easily, by the 1970's, find one. It was not mainstream then but was available to the masses and easily found through the media. Sex shops operated by that time and many toys considered illegal could now be purchased over the counter.

 

When Giuliani became mayor he did great damage to the sex industry but cleaned up the Times Square area. Mistresses and dungeons differentiated themselves from the prostitution industry by eliminating certain sexual acts and adapting to new rules. That ensured their survival.

 

So the trickling started around the 60's and is now mainstream. The Fortress could not have been conceived without all that happened before the Headmistress was born.

 

Dannyboy

Ive not seen many of your posts here as I am new but I feel as if you are the "OG" of this forum among the subs. I don't know how else to put it.

[Mistress Alexia Zito]

Dear Ms. Zito:

 

Painting with a broad brush, there were a number of factors that dovetailed over a time span of years to a decade or more. In the USA, say after the late 50's, there was sustained economic growth, improvement of working conditions, more disposable income, more leisure time and loosening attitudes about sex and sexual information.

 

There were free speech movements, sexual freedom movements and Court decisions up to the Supreme Court giving more leeway to books with sexual content. There was the incident in New Jersey in 1965 when a dungeon in Newark, NJ, operated by Monique van Cleef was raided by police bringing more attention to the existence of S & M. 

 

Swingers magazines proliferated in the 60's and Mistresses advertised and contacts were made my mail. Screw magazine was established including advertisements for houses of prostitution and Mistresses. S & M clubs came into existence and some dungeons opened. The first one that I became aware of was Belle de Jour. 

 

Anyone seeking a Mistress could easily, by the 1970's, find one. It was not mainstream then but was available to the masses and easily found through the media. Sex shops operated by that time and many toys considered illegal could now be purchased over the counter.

 

When Giuliani became mayor he did great damage to the sex industry but cleaned up the Times Square area. Mistresses and dungeons differentiated themselves from the prostitution industry by eliminating certain sexual acts and adapting to new rules. That ensured their survival.

 

So the trickling started around the 60's and is now mainstream. The Fortress could not have been conceived without all that happened before the Headmistress was born.

 

Dannyboy

DB- thank you for the enlightening perspective!

[Dannyboy]

Ive not seen many of your posts here as I am new but I feel as if you are the "OG" of this forum among the subs. I don't know how else to put it.

Guy: I think I know what "OG" stands for. If you said "OF" then I would understand that to mean "Old Fart." "OG" and "OF" would apply. Thank you.

 

DB- thank you for the enlightening perspective!

Dear Ms. Zito: My pleasure always.

 

Dannyboy