Those bawds ones are particularly interesting. In fact, this time I'll quote a couple of them (sorry for thr thread distraction)
So. Call me odd, but I look at their faces and their eyes.
First ones look like funny "oh, that is silly posing here"
Next one expression actually pains me, but I like you can imagine a back story of her being there
And this one is great, looks like she is playing with the photographer. I can imagine her having fun with this session as a change to her usual customer duties.
Thats why I posted them....The photog apparently spent a lot of time with the girls in this house...I think there were five sharing an apartment. He encouraged them to behave for the camera as they might when at work. There is a text that goes with these, which indicates that the ladies, were close friends enough to sleep together, and that a couple kept diaries. I'd love to read the source material.
But here are quotes for the sake of insight....
"After carefully examining the photos, Dupouy identified certain car models that approximately dated Monsieur X's works between 1925 and 1935. Brothels were legal in Paris until 1946. Thanks to a recognizable balcony, Dupouy ascertained the site of the brothel depicted at 75 Rue Jean Baptiste Pigalle.
Alexandre Dupouy
Monsieur X's photographs often feature names like Fanfan, Gaby, Gypsi, Jojo, Mado, Mimi, Nenette and Nono scribbled on the back, provide an alluring and sometimes alarming vision of life as a sex worker in early-1900s Paris. Although the images are most often playful, featuring big smiles and frisky poses, they hint at the struggles these young women were subjected to."
"The typical profile was a girl that came to Paris to make money so that she could feed her family back on the farm somewhere in the countryside," Dupouy explained in an interview with Vice. "Hungry and unemployed, the girl often stumbled across a Madame that would promise them shelter and warmth. One would usually end up staying with 10 or 15 girls in the same situation."
Along with the images, Monsieur X gifted texts from the private notebooks of some of the photographed women, illuminating the details of their daily rituals. One reads:
" I decided to go visit with my friends Marie and Fanfan, just for a change. It’s not the same thing when we’re just between girls, it’s for fun, nothing serious. We fondle each other, relaxing after the day’s work, and sometimes we all fall asleep, snuggled up just like kittens.
When they saw me, the face I had, they started teasing me right off. Then we started comparing our pussies. Marie’s is large, with full, rich lips like little cheeks, they make a kind of kissing sound when they part. Fanfan’s is more oblong and thin-lipped, its opening dark red, it wiggles just like an oister when you put your finger in. Then they splayed my thighs, calling me their poor little kitten. I was nice and wet, glistening through the curls, they went on together: "Don’t you cry, little pussy, he’ll be back." Then Fanfan went down on me, that was really sweet of her."
Another interesting thing is the use of expressions Id have thought were much later 20th C. These girls probably were working between 1920 and 1935.
