art photo 25. PAWELEC Wladyslaw - Untitled, from the series Mannequins [1980].

Gelatin-silver print, vintage, dimensions 17.5x23.5 cm, artist's stamp on back.

Władysław Pawelec (1923-2004) is a pioneer of erotic photography in Poland. In the opinion of critic K. T. Toeplitz: "His imagination takes us back as if several decades into the past. We return with him to the circle of the old, now forgotten fetishism, airy fabrics, lace stockings, black corsets, mirrors, pearls, amulets, old clocks and Art Nouveau statuettes. This decoration, expertly staged by the artist, does not only signify a predilection for fin-de siecle props, but also means something incomparably more important. It expresses a view of woman as a mysterious, undefined being, exposed in her corporeality, but at the same time left to conjecture when it comes to her interiority, thoughts and moods..."