In the dim hallways of Victorian England, where strict decorum hid the most intense cravings, a notorious piece of early BDSM literature appeared: Mysteries of the Verbena House. It first saw the light of day in 1882 under the pen name “Etonensis” (a cheeky reference to the elite Eton College) where the rod symbolised both authority and hidden excitement. The novel has since become a landmark … Continue reading Mysteries of the Verbena House
In the colonial cradle of Puebla, Mexico Juan Crisóstomo Méndez Ávalos was born on May 12, 1885. Raised amid the city’s textile mills and fervent Catholic fervor, young Juan apprenticed at fifteen in the German import house of Soomer & Herman, surrounded by crates of optical wonders and photographic paraphernalia. This immersion ignited a passion that would eclipse his formal training in drawing at the … Continue reading Juan Crisóstomo Méndez Ávalos
In the post-war haze of Germany, where the scars of conflict still lingered in the streets of Berlin and Hamburg, Franz Rehfeld turned his lens to the whispers of desire. Active in the 1950s and 1960s, he began as a fashion photographer, capturing the sleek lines of couture in an era of reconstruction and repressed passions. But Rehfeld’s work soon transcended the runway; he plunged … Continue reading Franz Rehfeld
Born July 7, 1909, in the austere plains of Alliance, Nebraska, Bruce Bellas began as a chemistry teacher, stirring formulas by day while his imagination churned with visions of bodies in motion. By 1947, he traded the chalkboard for the raw pulse of California’s Muscle Beach in Venice, where bodybuilders glistened under the relentless Pacific sun. What began as competition shots evolved into something far … Continue reading Bruce Bellas
A Medical Treatise or Erotic Bible? Published in Paris in 1899 by Dr. Jean Martin Charcot’s circle (anonymously, under the pseudonym Docteur Jaf), Étude sur la Flagellation à travers le monde au point de vue médical, historique, religieux, domestique et conjugal is the most exhaustive 19th-century study of spanking, birching, and ritual punishment ever written. At 400+ pages with over 100 illustrations, anatomical diagrams, historical … Continue reading Étude sur la Flagellation
Jacques-André Boiffard (1902–1961) is best known as Man Ray’s darkroom assistant in 1920s Paris, printing solarized nudes and surrealist masterpieces for Minotaure and Documents. Yet behind the scenes, Boiffard quietly pursued his own obsessions: fetishistic close-ups of feet, masks, and bound bodies The Unseen Bondage Series Between 1929 and 1933, Boiffard produced a small, undocumented body of BDSM-themed photographs: Big toes in extreme close-up, treated … Continue reading Jacques André Boiffard
When the world thinks of fetish photography and illustration, the name John Willie inevitably surfaces. John Alexander Scott Coutts (1902–1962), better known as John Willie, was a British-born illustrator, photographer, publisher, and bondage pioneer whose work defined the golden age of mid-century fetish art. With a pen in one hand and a rope in the other, he turned restraint into high art and fantasy into a shared … Continue reading John Willie
Judy Ann Dull (1933–1957) was a young woman chasing dreams in the sunlit haze of 1950s Los Angeles, an aspiring actress and model whose spirit shone brightest in the intimate world of fetish photography. With her brunette waves, expressive eyes, and a dancer’s lithe grace, Judy embodied the era’s blend of glamour and grit, stepping into frames not as a passive figure, but as a … Continue reading Judy Ann Dull
Doree (last name unknown) was one of John Willie’s most daring and least-documented models during his 1957 Los Angeles period. A petite brunette with a gymnast’s core and a dancer’s arch, she appeared in only a handful of sessions, yet left an indelible mark on the evolution of suspension bondage photography. Grace in Suspension Unlike the theatrical damsels of Bizarre magazine, Doree brought athletic precision … Continue reading Doree
Patti Conley (c. 1930s–?), known in Willie’s circle as “Pat,” was a Hollywood hopeful with a dancer’s lithe frame and a showgirl’s charisma. An American model who moonlighted in men’s magazines and even starred in burlesque training films like LA School for Strippers (1957). She posed for a number of L.A. photographers, including Peter Gowland, Peter Gowland and Keith Bernard and had worked as a showgirl at the Dunes … Continue reading Patti Conley
Holly Anna Faram (1924–1999) was more than John Willie’s muse — she was his collaborator, wife, and the real-life Sweet Gwendoline. A California-born dancer with a ballerina’s poise and a rebel’s spirit, Holly met Willie in 1946 and stepped into a world of silk ropes, sky-high heels, and playful peril. From Stage to Studio Trained in ballet and modern dance, Holly brought elegance and endurance … Continue reading Holly Faram
These photos were published in Der Komplex der Flagellomanie by Dr. Ernst Schertel, published in 1930. The photographer was referred to as R. F. Le Blanc. The photos show domestic discipline scenes with F/f and M/f dynamics. Continue reading R.F le Blanc
