1149
For example, a tinted erotic stereograph plate cost some
20 francs, and explicit scenes would cost more, while the
average daily wage of a worker in the 1850s was around
3 francs (Richter 1989, 88). Daguerreotype pornography
was often exquisitely hand-coloured, exhibiting careful
arrangement of lighting and the model’s pose. Together
with the singularity of each plate, such a daguerreotype
was designed as a personal deluxe item to be enjoyed
by the privileged.
In order to meet the growing demand and to expand
the market further, the photographers of the period were
inspired to produce less expensive stereoscopic cards on
salted paper, which is more commercially attractive than
daguerreotype nudes. Notwithstanding, it was not until
the 1880s and the appearance of a new, cheaper format
of pornography—the postcard—that the working class
generally gained access to pornography. Unlike stere-
oscopes, postcards require no special viewing apparatus.
They are fi nancially affordable, even to the poor, and
have the ability to communicate through their images
and the written messages they carry simultaneously.
For the fi rst time, the working class became consum-
ers rather than merely objects of pornography (Sigel
2000, 860).
Style and Model
Nineteenth-century pornographic pictures share great
similarities in terms of their composition and style. This
may be due in part to the rather narrow subject-matter,
which is mostly of a secret, sexually allusive nature. A
female model is often placed in the setting of a private
bedroom or toilet, photographed as if she were caught
in the process of undressing or, in some more explicit
pictures, displaying her private parts and caressing
herself in a sexually arousing way. A large dressing
mirror is commonly used in the setting; not only is it a
necessary furnishing in such a room, it also performs
the function of refl ecting more of the model’s body to
the viewer. Feminine items such as jewellery, fl owers,
drapery, and lace also serve as indispensable decora-
tions on the model, enriching the picture with details
and also providing a vivid contrast of texture from the
naked fl esh.
Pornography that shows explicit sexual activities
largely follows the mode already present in graphic art.
Images of coitus, oral sex, and masturbation appearing in
pornographic photography could all be found in earlier
and contemporary prints. Nevertheless, the technique of
photography does infl uence the mode of representing
sexual scenes and requires certain necessary modifi ca-
tions, therefore resulting in a repertory of pose, which
becomes in a sense more limited (Godeau 1986, 96).
For example, while the traditional pornographic print
had displayed sexual activity, photographic pornography
would show a fragmental part of the woman’s body or
the detailed, focused presentation of intercourse of man
and woman. Such depiction of a fragmental body rather
than of full-scaled sex in action is the result of the long
exposure-time required by early photography. In some
cases, photographers adopted a serial format to present
sexual activity in progress and provide it with a story-
line: for example, a French pornographic ‘Wedding
Series,’ presently held in the Kinsey Institute’s archive,
shows the newly-wed couple undressing, caressing each
other, and having sex, in three continual pictures. The
viewer would therefore observe these pictures with the
anticipation of watching a drama. As Linda Williams
argues, such continuum pornography attempts to render
the “truth” of sex not as an exhibitionistic pose but as an
act (Williams 1995, 27). Later in the century, with the
development of more instantaneous forms of photog-
raphy and shorter exposure lengths, the models would
appear to be literally ‘caught in the act’ (Williams 1995,
31), and such sexual acts gradually became a staple of
photographic pornography.
Beside the sexual act between man and woman,
gay or lesbian sex constitutes a smaller, but undeni-
ably signifi cant aspect of the pornographic repertoire.
To the heterosexual viewer, such gay porn not only
provides a deviant sexual spectacle, but also violates
the patriarchal order by blurring the boundary between
the active/passive, male/female divide which is often
presented in heterosexual porn. To modern researchers,
gay pornography of the nineteenth-century suggests a
new way to understand contemporary sexuality, as will
be discussed below.Pornography and Its Spectatorship
Although the proliferation of mass-produced pornogra-
phy in the nineteenth century has been acknowledged,
it was not until the 1960s, when there emerged some
alternative views about Victorian values, many of them
of feminist origin, that these ‘dirty photos’ begin to
receive serious attention. To researchers, pornography
seemed to open a new path to understanding nineteenth
century histories, especially those of society, gender,
sexuality, class, and even colonialism. Among these,
the long-held impression of prudent Victorians in sexual
denial was questioned from time to time, through the
study of pornography and other unearthed literature. It is
suggested by Steven Marcus in his The Other Victorians
that these materials evince the dark Freudian underside
of Victorian values, or as Michel Foucault proposes in
his History of Sexuality, paradoxically constitutes a part
of the vast apparatus of production of sexuality.
On the other hand, when the history of pornography
itself is concerned, the indexical, excessively realistic
quality of photography has made these pornographic
pictures quite distinct from pornography in traditional
formats such as print or painting. In Abigail Solomon-