French postcard
{{Short description|Postcard like cardstock featuring nude or semi-nude women produced during 19th century}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{For|the 1979 film|French Postcards}}
{{More citations needed|date=September 2017}}
A French postcard is a small, postcard-sized piece of cardstock featuring a photograph of a nude or semi-nude woman. Such erotic cards were produced in great volume, primarily in France, in the late 19th and early 20th century. The term was adopted in the United States, where such cards were not legally made.The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States, Philip Herbst. Intercultural Press, 1997, page 86 The cards were sold as postcards, but the primary purpose was not for sending by mail, as they would have been banned from delivery. The cards sometimes even depicted naked lesbians.Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2014, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-cqlAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 p. 48-49] French street vendors, tobacco shops and a variety of other vendors bought the photographs for resale to tourists.
French postcard images
A number of photographers and studios produced French postcards, with some of them featuring particularly popular models.
File:JA-Serie-040 French postcard-number2.JPG|Jean AgélouDe l'académisme à la photo de charme, Christian Bourdon. Paris: Marval, 2006 {{ISBN|978-2862343945}}
Model: Fernande{{cite web |url=http://papericons.com/fernande/index.html |title=Fernande 1910s Nude Model |accessdate=2014-01-25 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605203717/http://papericons.com/fernande/index.html |archivedate=2013-06-05 }}
French-postcard-no-series Two-women Pseudo-classical kithara.jpg|Pseudo-classical scene with kithara
Naples, Italy - Old vintage erotic postcard.JPG|Image of the Gulf of Naples with Mount Vesuvius on left
File:Les Nymphes Samusent by Alexandre-Jacques Chantron.jpg|Alexandre Jacques Chantron
File:Nudo di donna - Formato Gabinetto - fotografia Pantano, Napoli.jpg|"Formato Gabinetto"
Pantano, Naples
File:Zoro PC3.jpg|Zoro Garden Nudist Colony
San Diego, California
File:Five Nude Women.jpg|E. Le Delay
"Five nude women in dance"
File:Postcard of French Woman.jpg|"Postcard of French woman", non-nude
in style of French postcards
File:Nu-Femme assise posant au pied d'un buste-années 20.JPG|Postcard, Seated woman with a herma, 1920s
=Orientalist images=
Many photographers and studios specialized in images with an Orientalist theme.
File:Algérie. Jeunes Femmes Mauresques. Photochrome originale d'époque. Circa 1890. 18 x 24 cm.jpg|Adia
Algerian Moorish girls
File:ES - 14 - Esclave marocaine servant ses maitres.jpg|Aqua-Photo L.V.S.
Moroccan slave serving her master
File:Behar - 322 - Jeune fille arabe.jpg|Behar
Arab girl
File:J. Boussuge - Esclave.jpg|J. Boussuge
Moroccan slave from Casablanca
File:Combier - 007.jpg|Combier (CIM)
File:CAP - 6300 - La Sieste.jpg|Compagnie des Arts Photomécaniques
"The siesta"
File:P. Cousin et Cie - 514T - Bedouine.jpg|P. Cousin et Cie
"Bedouin"
File:Prostitutes in Algérie - 1910 ca. - Roger-Viollet Alinari.jpg|Roger-Viollet/Alinari
Two prostitutes in an Algerian brothel
File:Fille egyptienne a la fontaine 2.jpg|Ephtimios
Egyptian girl at the fountain
File:J. Garrigues - Jeune bedouine.jpg|J. Garrigues
Young Bedouin girl
File:Jean Geiser - 156 - Jeune bedouine.jpg|Jean Gieser
Young Bedouin girl
File:Idéale PS - 4 - Mauresque.jpg|Collection idéale PS
"Moorish"
File:720 - Types d'Orient.jpg|Lehnert & Landrock
"Oriental Type - slave"
File:Levy & Fils - 6267 - Mauresque B.jpg|Levy & Fils
"Moorish"
File:Jeune algérienne, 1920.jpg|Frères Neurdein
Young Algerian woman
File:Regence - 67 - La belle Zinah.jpg|Regence
"Beautiful Zinah" - Algiers
File:SIP - Jeune fille arabe 2.jpg|Société Industrielle de Photographie (S.I.P.)
Young Arab girl
File:Raphael Tuck & Sons - An egyptian beauty.jpg|Raphael Tuck & Sons
Egyptian beauty
File:Viala - 74 - Jeune femme au massage.jpg|F. Viala
"Young woman at Moroccan massage"
File:JA-Serie-39 French-postcard.jpg|Pseudo-Oriental theme
Jean Agélou
Model: Fernande
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- French Postcards: An Album of Vintage Erotica, Martin Stevens. Universe Books/Rizzoli, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0789315342}}.
- P. Hammond French undressing: naughty postcards from 1900 to 1920. London: Jupiter, 1976.
- W. Oulette, B. Jones Erotic postcards. New York: Excalibur, 1977.
{{Commons category|Postcards of nude women}}
{{Nudity}}