22.00 USD
A superbly naive image of an unidentified model "en collant" (in a body stocking) with a really great snake! One has to wonder, when viewing an image of this kind, whether the goal was humor, titillation, gender politics, a biblical reference of any kind, or a mix of oh, so many things, but the quality of the image is undeniable. Her facial expression seems to us to say, "Et alors! You think I can't handle this?" :)
Talk about a time machine.... The feel of the period derived from a card like this one is sensational. We sold one of these last year that was hand-tinted, to a very pleased customer, and we loved that one too, but there is something about a fine photograph in natural sepia tones that is just so...wonderful.
This card was published by SIP (the Societe Industrielle de Photographie), one of the most prolific French postcard publishers at that time. The image was photographed by Henri Manuel, and given the age of the card (its production date, by its undivided back, is likely to have been before 1904), the photo would have been taken not long after Monsieur Manuel and his brother, Gaston (about whom we can find no information whatsoever), opened their first portrait studio in Paris, in 1900.
Henri Manuel's name appears on many of the cards we bring into our shop, and though most of the subjects we deal in are very light-hearted, Manuel himself was a serious photographer, and an astute business man. He became well known not only for his portraits of theatrical personalities, risque nudes, and romantic fantaisies, but more, for his portraits of famous politicians, art, architecture, and in 1910, "Manuel's studio began providing a commercial service to news agencies for photographs known as "l’Agence universelle de reportage Henri Manuel."" (see Wikipedia) His studio grew to be the largest in Paris, a recognized center for the development (forgive the pun :) of the photographic arts, and for the three decades between 1914 and 1944, Henri Manuel held the post of official photographer for the French government. Because we know his studio operations were shut down during WWII, we wonder if during the last years he held that government post (when France was under German occupation), he worked for "Free France," but we haven't yet found a lot of history on that period. Henri Manuel passed away in 1947.
Just to give you an idea of the broad scope of the man's work, below is a link to a site showing a few of some 2500 photographs Manuel's studio produced of French prisons and juvenile facilities between the years 1929 and 1931, for the French Department of Justice. Pretty grim stuff, but though Red Poulaine is very much about the frolicsome fun, we feel it's important to give you background on our photographers and artistes when possible, and well...we just love the stories :).
http://prisonphotography.org/2010/01/02/henri-manuel-and-the-national-museum-of-prisons-archive-france/
Our "Lady Eve and the Snake" is a truly wonderful card in nearly perfect, unposted condition. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Thanks as always to Wikipedia!
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!
Fabulous French Faux Nude with Snake, circa 1900, by Henri Manuel