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Unfit for public display: female sexuality and the censorship of fin‐de‐siècle publicity posters

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17460651003688055

1746-0662

Karen L. Carter,

Literature and Culture Studies

Abstract In April 1891, the Parisian and French authorities censored a poster created by designer Alfred Choubrac advertising a performance by the dancer Ilka de Mynn for outraging public morals. This essay analyzes Choubrac’s case in relation to the law that defined obscenity violations and, more importantly, the commentary published in the press, which discussed whether the poster was explicitly appealing to base instincts and/or simply representing the female body in a manner considered beyond the boundaries of good taste. According to the press, the reasons for the poster’s immorality were its clumsy form, its public accessibility and its manipulation of female sexuality, which, it was feared, would disseminate a contagion of desire to young females. Keywords: French posteradvertising historycensorshiperotic imagery Acknowledgement I would like to thank the Editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their help and suggestions. Unless stated otherwise, the translations from French to English are mine. Notes 1. This is the point made by Susan Sontag. 2. Four advertising posters were charged with outrage aux bonnes moeurs in April 1891. In addition to the Ilka de Mynn poster, Choubrac’s poster for the journal Fin‐de‐siècle and two other posters ascribed to Choubrac’s colleague, the designer Charles Lévy (of the printing house Affiches américaines) were charged: one advertising the play Le Roi s’ennuie performed at the Folies‐Bergère, and another promoting the product L’Amarante bitter. In the catalogue for the 1896 Reims, France exhibition of illustrated posters, this latter poster was attributed to Louis Gallice (also known as Ludovic Galice) (Catalogue de l’Exposition d’affiches artistiques 1896, 68). In each case, the publisher, printer, lithographer, poster distributor and artist were charged with outrage aux bonnes moeurs and subjected to a fine. Although all copies of the censored posters were supposed to have been destroyed, they regularly appeared in private exhibitions and were sold by Edmond Sagot, the print and poster dealer (INHA, Sagot). Subsequent poster censorship cases in 1894, 1896 and 1900 also sparked public debates about the decency of advertising posters. For a discussion of the censorship of Alfred Choubrac’s poster for the periodical Fin‐de‐siècle, see Carter Citation2005, 14–17 and Maindron 1896, 54–6; Rickards Citation1972, 34–7. Rickards includes additional cases of French censored posters including Adolphe Willette’s Revue déshabillée 8, and Théophile Steinlen’s Le Journal: La Trâite des blanches (Clapp Citation1972). 3. ‘Tribunaux’, La Justice, 8 May 1891, p. 3. According to the same article, the owners of the Folies‐Bergère protested that they had submitted a copy of the poster to the prefect for prior approval. When they heard no objections from the police, they assumed the poster was acceptable. The costume had equally been approved by the theatrical censor, but, according to the presiding magistrate, the theatrical censor did not have the authority to decide the decent or indecent status of the poster. 4. The conservative newspaper Le Gaulois, for example, advocated for a return to censorship practices of the early nineteenth century (‘Le Long des rues’,1891, Yb3 1657). 5. The topic of the cultural construction of female sexuality through advertising images is too extensive to be summarized here, but relevant discussions on the historically and culturally constructed representations of women in this period can be found in Bowlby Citation1985, Clayson Citation1991, Garb Citation1998, Nead Citation1992, Nochlin 1999, Pollock Citation1988 and Solomon‐Godeau Citation1996. 6. The official censor for theatrical performances, however, still remained active. For a recent overview of the censorship of the theatre, see Goldstein Citation2009. 7. For a brief summary of the procedure for caricature, see Goldstein Citation1988. 8. I am indebted to Anne‐Marie Sauvage, Curator of Posters at the Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, for calling my attention to this pair of posters. Broido Citation1992, nos. 164 (‘Rejected poster’) and 165 (‘Authorized poster’). 9. For a summary of the 1881 Press Law (including liberté de l’affichage) and its subsequent revisions until 1900, see Bellanger and Godechot Citation1972, vol. 3, 7–26. For a more thorough list of affichage regulations, see Fuzier‐Herman and Griffond 1894, 34–7 and de Gourmon 1902, 33–4. Bernelle (Citation1912) also provides a summary of affichage laws. 10. The striking parallels between nineteenth‐century London and Paris with regard to the distribution of obscene material indicate a larger fear of industrialized imagery that transcended national boundaries. For a recent examination of Victorian pornography, see Early Popular Visual Culture, v. 3, no. 2, September, especially essays by Popple Citation2005 and Nead Citation2005. See also Nead Citation2000. 11. ‘Que signifie l’expression “obscène”? Tout écrit, tout livre, tout dessin obscène est évidemment contraire aux bonnes moeurs; mais il peut être contraire aux moeurs sans atteindre l’obscénité. Il n’y a qu’une nuance qui tient surtout à la forme, à l’apparence. Dans tous les cas, le fond est le même; il s’agit toujours d’un appel aux instincts et aux appétits grossiers.’ The emphasis is mine. The French term dessin can be translated as either ‘drawing’ or ‘design’. Le Poittevin quotes passages on the law from Barbier. 12. ‘L’obscène … c’est le licencieux qui s’étale généralement, qui ne se dissimule pas sous les voiles de l’art … c’est licencieux … par la grossièreté de la forme ou par la recherche voulu de sujets, de thèmes, de situations visant directement à éveiller dans l’imagination des idées certaines, et dénotant chez l’auteur l’intention perverse de s’adresser principalement à l’esprit de luxure et de debauche.’ 13. ‘Dernière heure’, Le Temps, 29 August 1891, p. 1. 14. ‘Caribert’ does not explicitly use Choubrac’s name, but instead refers to general accusations about the works in question. He also notes the political motivations of ‘pudeurs’ (advocates of modesty) who wished to portray the Third Republic as morally corrupt. 15. The pose here is strikingly similar to the poster of the performer Zaeo that had caused an uproar in London just a year earlier (see Davis Citation1990). 16. As Nead states: ‘If the transmutation of sexual drives into artistic creation is impossible then the nude also presents the risk of too much sex – too much, that is, for art. The triumph of a “successful” representation of the nude is the control of this potential risk’ (Nead Citation1992, 13). 17. ‘Des industrialists qui ne craignent plus de promette encore plus qu’ils ne tiennent s’ingénient depuis quelque temps à ouvrir sur toutes nos murailles des fenêtres par o[ugrave] l’on aperçoit, dans le plus simple appareil, les beautés qu’ils parquent dans les salon lumineux de leurs maisons hospitalières. N’est‐il pas vrai que, sur les grandes affiches coloriées o[ugrave] elles déploient leurs charmes toutes ces dames ont l’air de “faire la fenêtre”? A tous les carrefour, elles sourient aux passants, attisent leurs curiosité et semblent leur dire en clignant de l’oeil: “Venez donc nous voir, gentils garçons?”’. [‘For some time businessmen, who no longer worry about promising even more than they can deliver, have done their utmost to open up windows in all our walls where one catches a glimpse of the beauties confined in the luminous salons of their “hospitable houses.” Doesn’t it seem that in large colored posters where these ladies deploy all their charms, they appear to “faire la fenêtre”? At every street corner, they smile at passersby, attract their curiosity and seem to tell them in the blink of an eye “So, guys, come up and see us”’.] 18. For a psychoanalytic analysis of advertising and subjectivity, see Bowlby Citation1985. 19. Posters designed by Adolphe Willette, Théophile Steinlen and Félicien Rops were censored in the 1890s and helped fuel the controversy; see Rickards Citation1972. 20. Verhagen (1995) makes a similar argument for Chéret’s posters. 21. ‘Tribunaux’, La Justice, 8 May 1891, p. 3. 22. Alain Corbin refers to Bérenger as the ‘heart and soul’ of the Society for the Revival of Public Morality and as ‘the destroyer of pornographers of all kinds, the scourge of the white slave trade, the defender of underage prostitutes.’ (Corbin Citation1990, 258). For a contemporary view of Bérenger and the effects of licentious imagery on various groups, see Nocq Citation1897. Sabatié (Citation1908) summarizes some of the recent pornography cases and Bérenger’s attempts to counter obscene books and images. 23. See also the pamphlet (‘Appel aux mères de famille’ and list of members in F7 12373 (file 369), Archives nationales (France), Paris. ‘C’est le viol des yeux, a dit éloquemment un magistrat, que ces exhibitions auxquelles personne peut se soustraire. / C’est l’excitation permanente, cynique, publique à la débauche. L’homme mÛr peut sans doute s’en garder; la jeunesse, l’enfance, en sont presque inévitablement victimes.’ (‘Appel aux pères de famille, formation d’une société centrale de protestation contre la license des rues’, Le Temps, 22 December 1891). The letter was signed by René Bérenger, Jules Simon and Frédéric Passy. 24. See Dawkins Citation2002 (Chapter 1: ‘Decency in Dispute: Viewing the Nude’) for an analysis of the censorship of illustrations in Courrier français. 25. The unsigned article in Le Père peinard was attributed to Fénéon by Joan Halperin. Fénéon wrote: ‘Instead of that idiocy [Salon painting], let’s imagine you’re in the street: you piss against a wall, you stroll with your pal, you’re on your way to the job or on the way home, and at the same time, without worrying about it, you glance at posters…’. Translated in Heller Citation1997, 70.