One of our favorite, and most magical, subgenres of "Lovely Lady" postcards has to be that of the Marvelous Maenads. These are somewhat idealized, and presumably toned down, versions of those wild maidens of ancient Greece, who in their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine and sensual abandon, got up to all kinds of mischief. The maenad, as an image, was practically the poster girl of La Belle Époque, expressing that rich, earthy, "joie de vivre," which has come to be seen as so expressive of that era. In our Marvelous Maenad section, we're not all that particular about whether the model is depicted as a woodland sprite, a pagan priestess, or if they're just a couple of Belle Époque chorus girls unwinding after a tough dress rehearsal. The images we list in this section might have been published anytime between the 1890s and the 1930s. Basically, if they're wearing grapes, grapevines, animal skins, or any of the other accoutrements no self-respecting maenad could do without, this is the section they'll end up in. Welcome to the Bacchanal!!! :)
The marvelous maenads featured in this post are just the first of many. We hope that you will be as enchanted with these beauties as we are.
First, I have to laugh, because I always refer to my postcards as my 'Lovely Ladies' (in addition, the official name of my hallway is 'The Gallery of Women').
ReplyDeleteSecondly, these postcards are enchanting - the photographers seemed to have had a special talent for shade and shadow which made these ladies especially lovely!
Thank you, so much! It's always great to "meet" someone who appreciates the enchantment to be found in vintage photography.
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