Look at This

[shanmonster]

I'm buzzing off a wee bottle of Mudslide, right now. The Kahlua looked damned tasty, so I drank it.

Now, I'm just feeling the need to look at interesting pictures, so as I find them,

I don't know who this woman is, but she sure is stunning! This photo dates from the 1870s.

This photo was credited as being of a cancan dancer, but I'm highly skeptical. I just can't see a whole lot of cancanning going on with that corset. I'm unsure of the date.

This is a picture of Donato, a Spanish dancer, in his Danse avec Manteau in the Covent Garden Pantomime in London. The photo dates from 1864-1865. He seems a little tired, to me. He performed right after an inflated elephant, and after him came a three-legged dance. According to The London Review of Politics, Society, Literature, Art & Science of January 7, 1865, "Much has been written about Donato's dancing, but the most we can say of it is that it enables him to conceal his physical defect. He is a small, good-looking young Spaniard, dressed in a gay crimson velvet dress, a good timist, a good player on the castanets, and a very clever twirler of a cloak, which he uses in what is called a mantle dance. In this dance he spins round with considerable rapidity in the centre of a spiral column formed by the cloak. The leg he has lost is the right one; and the steps he is able to perform with the left leg are necessarily very limited, but he moves from place to place with great ease, and relies much upon that very graceful and incessant motion of the body which is one of the chief characteristics of Spanish dancing. His performance is very ingenious, and is not so painful to look at as we expected it would be." More information on the Pantomime can be found at John Culme's Footlight Notes.

The Bouley Brothers of Plainfield, Connecticut, were gymnasts/acrobats in the 1930s. Armand, the man on top, is performing a "back lever." He holds himself perfectly horizontal, balanced precariously by only the wrists. His brother Tibbet supports him while lying on a chair. This stunt is purportedly one of the most difficult in gymnastics, and judging by the bulging muscles on Armand's arms, I'd be tempted to agree!

This is a swim costume designed by Annette Kellerman. Annette Kellerman was arrested in Boston in 1907 for wearing a one-piece swimsuit. Her swimsuit was considered obscene, at the time. She was the inventor of both one-piece swimsuits and also, it would seem, of synchronized swimming. You can view her mermaid costume in much greater detail at Annette Kellerman Costumes.

Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868) was notorious for being one hell of a wild and crazy girl. She was the centre of numerous debacles. She was married several times. She was a drag king. She scandalized and delighted audiences by being strapped "nude" (actually wearing a bodysuit) to a cavorting horse in productions of "Mazeppa." She was sought after by such literati as Lord Byron, Alexandre Dumas, and Algernon Charles Swinburne. In fact, "She was once paid by Dante Gabriel Rosetti to spend the night with poet Charles Swinburne, giving him the flogging he wanted, possibly in an attempt on Rosetti's part to convince the poet that women were desirable sex partners" (from BDSM Timeline). I obtained the photo from PictureHistory.com.

Speaking of drag kings, the dancer on the left really looks female, despite the man's garb. This French photo dates from before 1906, and shows a couple of costumed Mattchiche dancers.

Comments

[jellything.livejournal.com]

fascinating, as usual (the link for donato isn't working for me, though). I'm utterly in love with the dress in #2—and I generally hate pink frilly things!

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Oops! I just fixed the broken link....

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I think it really depends on the photo, whether or not the model had to hold a pose for a long time. For very early shots, sure, but the poses are typically very static for those.

I must admit, I haven't seen a preponderance vintage photos of deep backbends (this and this, and this being notable exceptions). Maybe I should look for more.

As for handpainted photos, well, they can be wonderful, and they can also be absolute trainwrecks. It really depends on the colourist. I've seen some terrifying colour jobs.