Leaving a trail: the fetish art of Franz von Bayros

Friends! This is a good time to warn you that what you find on Coilhouse may not always be safe for work. We’ll try to keep the racy content after a jump and warn you about NSWF links, but we can’t promise that we’ll never blow our load right on the front page of the blog. Case in point: Franz von Bayros’ timeless masterpiece, “Ex-libris of Sweet Snail.” How can anyone resist putting an image like this right a the top? How? You tell me.

Franz von Bayros was an artist from the late 19th/early 20th century who became known for his playfully perverse erotic imagery. Originally from Zagreb, Croatia, van Byros lived from 1866 until 1924. Van Bayros was constantly on the move: oft-expelled from European cities due to the sexual content of his work, he was forced to relocate again and again and start from scratch. During his lifetime he produced over 2000 works, and his most famous collection was a series of erotic images called Erzahlungen vom Toilettentisch or Tales from the Dressing Table.

What makes Bayros’ images so delectable is precisely what’s missing from average porn: a sense of everyone having a good time. In Bayros’ images, there’s a real atmosphere of pleasure, and I find myself feeling light and kind of giddy after looking his gorgeously-crafted scenes, thinking, “wow, that looks like fun! good for them.” See for yourself after the jump.

Many thanks to my friend Mildred Von for turning me onto Bayros’ work, and for the title to this blog post. You may have also noticed that Mil occasionally pops up on Coilhouse to make a couple of posts of her own.

But there’s more! Lots, lots more, actually. The small images you see here don’t even do it justice. Go look:

9 Responses to “Leaving a trail: the fetish art of Franz von Bayros”

  1. sonnastraum Says:

    i’ve noticed that when i look thru porn, the ones of the women actually smiling and enjoying themselves turn me on more. the hard-faced, ‘serious’ & attitude ones just put me off. that’s the nature of sex, it’s supposed to be fun & enjoyable. western society’s really fucked up in that regard, labelling anything erotic as “bad” & “dirty”. society as a whole needs to get themselves off a little more.

  2. Ashbet Says:

    Stunning!! I’d seen a couple of pieces of his work before, but never the whole gallery. Love it!

  3. Molly Crabapple Says:

    I love Franz von Bayros! The first time I saw him in a vintage erotica compilation, I thought “wow- it’s Beardsley if Beardsley ever finished art school.” He’s one of my top favorite artists- thanks for blogging him.

  4. Jerem Morrow Says:

    Fan-fucking-tastic!

  5. nadyalev Says:

    @ Molly: Beardsley’s work excels in design and stylization compared to von Bayros, but I agree that Beardsley’s really busy, full scenes don’t have the complexity of the von Bayros drawings. Although, who knows what Beardsley would’ve become if he hadn’t died at age 25?

  6. E. Black Says:

    I’m amazed that in my art history classes we never talked about von Bayros. His work is beautiful and fantastic.

  7. thanatos Says:

    Thru art the most simple things become become gold.
    And erotism, sex, depravation are…simply beautifull.

  8. Old Erotic Art | Limpid Lech's finds Says:

    […] also have a blog. They have lots of Franz von Bayros‘ prints, more of which are available here. This site has many of the classics, inc. Bruno Schulz. Finally, ‘Art of the Beautiful […]

  9. rosa Says:

    have loved this artist for along time..