"Moroccan Romance: Exploring Idyllic Couples in the Artworks of Polish Artist Adam Styka"

As known, European

In this probably unique and distinguishing Japanese shunga surimono (commissioned print) Shigenobu portrays his sensual participants, a European couple, as godlike figures (the female is stunningly beautiful) set..

people often dream of exotic locations. Longing for travel was especially popular in ᴛι̇ɱes of roɱaпticism. One of the characters of Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship dreams of a faraway coast “where lemon trees blossom; where golden oranges glow amid dark leaves.” Yet, art not only raises a thirst for travel but also allows us to change our location, at least virtually.

Fig. 1. Adam Styka by Jan

In October, we’ve published an article devoted to pornographic daguerreotypes of the 19th century. The Czech photographer Jan Saudek (born 1935) creates his sensual hand-colored daguerreotypes today, using the..

Styka (Wikipedia.org)

Desert Roses And Remedies

Happy Moroccan dancers blossoming under the southern sky like desert roses make us wonder what land can produce these vital females with pearl teeth, crimson lips, and full breasts

A more mature couple – husband and pregnant wife – are seen at passionate foreplay. The woɱaп asks the flirtatious ɱaп to hurry and get on with the main act, abruptly directing him in the details of every..

. Adam Styka (1890-1959), the author of numerous exotic portraits, referred to the long-term dream of exhausted European Child Harolds by creating a literally hot image of Arabic concubines, the last possible cure for the “English disease.” (Isn’t it funny that, in ᴛι̇ɱes of Byron, English disease could be healed only by French disease?)

Fig. 2. Young Moroccan Girl (pinterest.com)

Fig. 3. Dancer (nevsepic.com.ua)

Fig. 4. Resting In The Sunshine (askart.com)

Fig. 5. Zohra, a Moroccan Dancer (twitter.com)

Prominent Portrait Artist

Styka was a descendant of a family of artists. His father, painter Jan Styka, who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with a Golden Medal, became his first mentor. Adam’s gifted older brother Tade was destined to be a painter as well. While Tade grew up to be a prominent portrait artist depicting influential figures such as Maurice Maeterlinck, Caruso, Chaliapin, and Pola Negri, Adam achieved recognition for his orientalist paintings. The artist’s professional way began at the French Academy of Fine Arts, where he attended the studio of Fernand Cormon.

Van Gogh

Among the students of Cormon’s atelier were iconic masters such as van Gogh

Riot Around Cashbook with 65 Drawings A sketchbook with 65 newly discovered drawings, possibly drawn by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), has caused a lot of commotion in the international art world. Fig.1. Part of..

, Toulouse-Lautrec

The Post-Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) and his interest in Japanese art is closely linked to the writer and art dealer Maurice Joyant (1864-1930). The collection of the latter was one of..

, and Matisse. Besides, this artist was also a teacher of erotic painter Andrè Lambert, to whom one of our previous articles is devoted. As a student, Styka submitted his paintings to the most prestigious Parisian galleries, such as the Salon. In addition to artistic studies, he also underwent military

In the catalogue of the British Museum this image has been aptly described as ‘Buggering the Russian’. Both protagonists are infantry soldiers (the Russian has a rifle with a bayonet) of respectively the..

training in Fontainebleau shortly before the break of WWI. When the war

The first Sino-Japanese war (1 August 1894 – 17 April 1895) introduced a new character of erotic fantasy to the stage: the nurse. This was a professional woɱaп whose job it was to touch men, and in some cases..

started, the artist joined French forces as an artillerist and distinguished himself in a battle, which allowed him to receive French citizenship.