These daguerreotypes from the 1800s illustrate a long history of erotic photography, as well as the photographer’s fascination with the human body. Although, this expression of admiration is not new in history, the 1850s began to experiment with photography as these artists explored the vast flexibility of cameras. It is arguable that erotic photography helped to advance technology as it was necessary to take these large and bulky extensions of the mind and eye out of the studio and into the artist’s surrounding milieu. Here are a few examples culled from the web.

More controversial, is the photograph of an African American woman before the emancipation of slavery because it is most likely that she did not have much choice.

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