Two of the most prolific proponents of this new technique
were F. J. Moulin (approximately 1800–1868) and Auguste Belloc
(active 1850–1868). These two French photographers seem to
have attempted every different genre in the domain of nudity:
academic nudes, pictorial nudes mimicking famous works of
art, and erotic, even pornographic, images. Their academic
nude photographs were used as reference by painters such as
Courbet and Delacroix, and both men were among the pioneers
of fine art photography.
After the invention of photography the question arose as to how
the human body should be depicted. In paintings, the tradition had
normally been to show nudity in the form of mythological, religious,
and allegorical scenes, which lent a cloak of respectability to the act
of looking at something that frequently had a sexual content. Taken
out of these contexts and made real, photographic nudes inevitably
took on a more sexual connotation. Many of the photographers who
explored the sexuality of the human body did so anonymously, and
some of their images remain shocking even today. They showed not
only the beauty of their models but also their sexual needs, desires,
and often explicit activities—a theme that was to reappear in the
mid-20th century art scene.
The production of erotic and pornographic nude photographs
quickly developed the world over into a thriving business to feed
the appetites of certain sections of the public, whether officially
sanctioned or existing illegally underground, depending on what was
permissible under local legislation.EROTIC NuDEs 13 Auguste Belloc
This hand-colored daguerreotype is part of a stereoscopic set of
two, entitled Femme nue allongée sur un canapé, created in
about 1850. Nude images such as this were often used and
even commissioned by painters, and were presented in albums.