Eve with Snake, by Henri Manuel

Talk about a time machine.... The feel of the period derived from a card like this one is sensational. There is something about a fine photograph in natural sepia tones that is just so...wonderful. Images of Eve being tempted by the snake abound, being a favorite of artists of all ages, but rarely has Eve managed to look quite so humorously nonchalant about the encounter as she does in this image by Henri Manuel.

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE Fabulous French Faux Nude with Snake, circa 1900, by Henri Manuel

This postcard, published about 1900, features 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?”

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 lighthearted, 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.’” His studio grew to be the largest in Paris, a recognized center for the development of the photographic arts (please forgive the pun ☺), 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, you can examine a few of the approximately 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.

Chrysanthèmes and Dragonfly by Henri Manuel, circa 1905

Unlike Leopold Reutlinger and Count Ostorog, aka Walery, who seemed to specialize in "entertainment" photography, Henri Manuel, who with his brother, Gaston, operated the largest photography studio in Paris, covered a very broad array of subjects. That is not to say that Walery and Reutlinger didn't ever step out of the showgirl portrait genre, we know they did, but Manuel was the official photographer for the French government between 1914 and 1944, established one of the earliest "news" photo services, and was well known for his architectural studies.

Henri Manuel's photograph of Auguste Rodin and the Duchesse de Choiseul at the Hôtel Biron. Wikipedia

He did not, however, shy away from "eye candy;" far from it! He was quite adept at risque images, and managed to bring a very artful feel to many of his "artiste" portraits.

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE Chrysanthèmes by Henri Manuel

This card offers a fine example of this, we think. Without question, la Belle Epoque, in France, was the era of the chrysanthemum. In images of pretty young dancers, mothers with their little girls in tow, opera divas, etc., the use of the chrysanthemum as a hair decoration was ubiquitous. Most often, they are seen worn at the temples, and here Manuel positions the flowers in their accustomed location, but without removing them from the stem, creating a thoughtful study with a feel of nature, and the placement of the dragonfly is wonderful. Really a gorgeous image.

***Note*** It might be of some interest to collectors that during WWII almost all of the photographic plates housed in the Manuel studio were destroyed, making images by H. Manuel all but irreplaceable.

Thanks to Wikipedia for most of the historical information in this posting.

Italia Almirante, Ravishing Star of Italian Silent Film

The ravishingly beautiful Signorina Almirante starred in some of the earliest silent films. She came from a theater family, and began her career on stage. She made a number of successful films, only one of them a talkie. 

The film represented in this image, "L'Arzigogolo," whose title translates as "The Convoluted," was made in 1924, and although the star is listed as Italia Almirante, it was in 1919 that Italia Almirante married the well known journalist Amerigo Manzini, and was thereafter most frequently known by Almirante-Manzini. The film was the smash hit of the season, with twisted romance, intrigue and murder.

Alberto Collo, her co-star (we simply love his costume), was a very popular silent film actor who did continue with talkies. His last film was made in 1954, at the age of 76. In 1955, in Turin, he simply disappeared.
 

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE Italia Almirante, Silent Film Diva, circa 1920s

In 1935, Signorina Almirante-Manzini moved to Brazil (conceivably she and her husband felt uncomfortable in the rapidly changing political environment of the time-many did-particularly journalists).

In Brazil, she continued with theater until 1941, when she died, reportedly as a result of being bitten by a poisonous insect. 

A marvelously evocative unposted card, published by Signore Falci of Milan in the early 1920s.