Harem Venuses by Luis Ricardo Falero (1851-1896)

l'ensorceleuse (1878)

Here are a few more nice harem girls by Spanish born artist Luis Ricardo Falero (1851-1896) whose The Favourite we looked at a few weeks ago.  

Our second lady looks rather aristocratic to be a harem girl so it is more likely that she is supposed to be some sort of generic North African woman.  The two below, however, look like they are in the harem for one purpose only.

In 1896 a lady called Maud Harvey launched a successful paternity suit against Falero caliming he had "seduced" her.  As a seventeen year old Harvey had been recruited as his housemaid and later became one of his models. When Falero found she was pregnant he dismissed her and although he promised financial support it never appeared, forcing Howard to go to court where she was awarded five shillings a week.  Falero, didn't have to pay for long, however, as he died on 7th December that year, at the age of 45.

The final painting, The Snake Charmer,  isn't specifically orientalist in subject but is very similar in feel so we have included it anyway and who knows what exotic entertainement skills were expected of harem girls, anyway?

Tahitian Venuses by Lucien Gauthier: 1

Fetia

As we are going through another minor heatwave here at present we thought it would be appropriate to return to the South Seas for one of our regular looks at Polynesian lovelies.

All of these ladies originate from Tahiti and their pictures were taken by a French photographer, Lucien Gauthier in the early years of the twentieth century.

Lucien Gauthier in his studio

Tahiti became a French protectorate in 1842 and the French government had a small garrison there. The first photographers in Tahiti were, therefore, French naval personnel.  A number of French officers took photographs which were sent to Paris for reproduction in magazines such as Tout du Monde and L'Illustration to pander to the thirst for views of these exotic islands.

Aote

By the 1860s there were regular visists by ships to Tahiti and it became possible for photographers to establish on the island.  These photographers would take pictures of views of the island and the exotic inhabitants to be sold in albums.

Manu

The voyage from the US to Tahiti had to be made by schooner and would take several months, limiting accessibility and the number of settleres that came to the island.

Schooner in Papeete Bay

In 1901, however, the Oceanic Steamship Company of San Francisco launched a regular (once every 36 days) service to Papeete.  Leaving San Francisco at 11.00 am  on the steamship Mariposa under the command of Captain Rennie, the voyage would now take only 12 or 13 days, remaining at Papeete for four days before returning to San Francisco.  Although the ship could accomodate 75 passengers it rarely took more than 25 making it a relaxing voyage, according to travellers at the time.

SS Mariposa docked at Papeete in 1907

It was on the Mariposa that French photographer Lucien Gauthier arrived in Tahiti in 1904.  Gauthier was born in 1875 but left France at the age of 27 to work in the French American Bank in San Francisco.  A friend told him that the only photographic studio had just closed on the island and he set off for Papeete forthwith.

Gauthier's studio at rue des Ramparts, Papeete

He rented a house in the rue des Ramparts and set up his studio there.  He had bought a simple camera in San Francisco but had to learn his trade as photographer as he went. He put up a simple case outside his house and put examples of his photographs inside it (see above) which acted as his only advertisement.

Tatabiate

At this time there were about 700 Europeans living in Papeete and people started to come to his makeshift studio and have their portraits taken.   His sitters weren't just local government officials but also some distuinguished locals as well.

Tatabiate

Gauthier, like many others before him, became particularly enamoured of the beauty of the local girls and started to photograph them as well.

Craeg

In this post we have put together a selection of his studio shots, many taken against a painted backdrop of a Tahitian landscape.  Later he would shoot his ladies on location and we will look at them another time.

Nehenehe

Gauthier only spent two years in Tahiti as he was required to return home to France to complete his military service.   He returned to San Franciso on the Mariposa arriving shortly after the 1906 earthquake which meant that he had to sleep outside on the ground on his arrival.

Tamo

Gauthier had little difficulty encouraging the local girls to pose for him for his tasteful art nudes for, despite the activities of Catholic missionaries who had made the girls cover up, memories of a culture that did not see nudity as shameful remained strong enough.  Gauthier himself recording that, on one of his expeditions to some of the wilder and more distant country, he ran into a completely naked vahine, much to his delight.

Terai demonstrating an aparima dance step

Gauthier's girls show less of the impact of Chinese and Indian blood coming to the island and so their apperance more closely mirrors the look of the girls who enticed the crews of Bougainville and Bligh over a hundered years earlier.

Gentil

More of these langorous lovelies another day.

Venus by Request: Anneka de Lorenzo in a hip bath

We had a request for more pictures, following our recent 1973 Pubic Wars post,  of the lovely Anneka de Lorenzo in her hip bath, so here she is, from the September 1973 issue of Penthouse.

These pictures were taken by Bob Guccione himself and are very typical of the early seventies "boudoir" style that Penthouse developed which was much copied elsewhere.

Bathrooms are, of course, a comparatively modern invention.  Before about 1870, everyone, rich and poor alike, would bathe in portable baths like this which would be placed in front of a fire in the kitchen or living room. 

Anneka looks particularly fetching in hers although perhaps the addition of a maid would have been nice!

Anneka de Lorenzo was born Marjorie Lee Thoresen in St Paul, Minnesota.  After her parents divorced she moved to Los Angeles and worked as a waitress, receptionist and dancer as do thousands of other pretty girls when first moving to Los Angeles. 

Anneka saw Bob Guccione on TV in August 1972 saying that he was a filmmaker and Anneka promptly wrote to him with some pictures as she thought he could help get her into films.

Guccione met her the following year and decided that she could be the Pet of the Month for September 1973.  He flew her to London for her photo shoot.

Guccione made Anneka Pet of the Year in 1975 and led her to believe that she would be given the major role of Caesonia in his new film, Caligula.  In the end the part went to Helen Mirren and her role was reduced to that of a non-speaking one.  She is still very visible in the finished film, however, especially the uncut version, as she was one of the few Pets who also filmed scenes with Tinto Brass rather than just the added sex scenes Guccione filmed in secret.

 

She did get the leading role in Messalina, Messalina, a quick exploitation film which used the sets and costumes from Caligula in an attempt by the producers to make some money back for the troubled production.  She appeared in a few other films including Brian de Palma's thriller Dressed to Kill.

 

Anneka's final experiences with Penthouse weren't good and in 1988 she took Guccione to court accusing him of sexual harrasment.  She won $60,000 in compensation and $4,000,000 in punitive damages.  Whether she ever saw any of the money is not known...