Friday 17 November 2017

Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe

Do you know this painting by Edouard Manet? You can see it here. It is a painting of  two fully clothed men at a picnic with a naked woman. There is another partially clothed woman in the background.

There Is a photo I like of Man Ray and Paul Eluard with one of my favourite photographers Lee Miller and two other women. You can see it here. Miller herself also took a photo of the scene which you can see here. The men are fully clothed and the women all topless.

There is an interesting eroticism in the notion of clothed men accompanied by naked women. To me it implies a level of D/s control and has an erotic charge of the women appearing to be making themselves available to the men - or having been made available for them.

I imagine it would work also the other way round with clothed women and naked men where the power balance would be the opposite.

Inès works as an artists' model and so is regularly naked in a room full of clothed people. Usually the groups are mixed but often can be men only or can be one-to-one sessions with a man. The eroticism of this situation is carefully avoided, it is supposed to be art, a professional relationship, but I find it hard to believe there is not an undercurrent of eroticism.

Next weekend Inès and I were hoping to go to an event where the men would all be dressed smartly in suits and the women all naked. I think because of work commitments it may not be possible. This is the second year running we have tried to get along but things have got in the way. We are both disappointed, perhaps especially Inès. As well as the power dynamic she also gets off on the exhibitionism.

Have others been involved in this kind of scene? Do you enjoy the power dynamic of clothed/unclothed? Do you like to be an exhibitionist or do you like to be the voyeur?


12 comments:

Jz said...

If I tell you that I immediately flinched and averted my eyes upon reading the words, "women all naked", would that give you an idea as to how I feel about the idea?
Not my thing, no matter how much I might wish it could be.
(And yes, I envy those for whom it is - I would love to be that insouciant!)

Pygar said...

I am sorry to have made you flinch and avert your eyes Jz. You are so delicate! Now how about clothed women and naked men?

(And, yes, I would love to be able to toss off words like “insouciant”!)

;)

P xx

Jz said...

Not delicate, just an insecure, Puritanical weenie.
The clothed women/naked man doesn't do anything for me either ("t'ain't natchurrl!") but I have read a couple of male submissives describing how very much they enjoy it. So I'm quite sure the problem lies with me.
I guess in my world, nudity requires context.
...and an extremely limited audience. ;-p

Pygar said...

Thanks again Jz and sorry for my earlier teasing!

;)

Not going for either scenario should not though be regarded as a “problem”. We are all different with our own wants and desires.

P xx

Cat said...

Not being happy with my body, the idea of being naked for all to see makes me very uncomfortable. That being said, my fiance always made me feel attractive and I found it erotic when he insisted on me being nude while he stayed fully clothed. I do find the painting erotic.

Blessings...Cat

Pygar said...

I am sure Cat that you are not the only one who is not happy with their body. It can require super confidence and even attractive models will find fault with their looks. Interestingly, looking at photos from previous events like the one I had hoped we might attend, many of the unclothed women had by no means the typical expectation of a beautiful body. Yet they were happy, or even proud, to show themselves.

However on the invitation it recognises that some women might find it difficult to be completely naked and suggests that if they are mostly naked and at least topless that will suffice. I can understand many women being unhappy with the look of their body given the media pressures to have a perfect body. However if someone is open to the bdsm scene I find it more difficult to understand why they are unhappy to be free of undergarment coverings!

I am pleased though that you have discovered the potential eroticism in this.

Thank you for commenting

P xx

julie said...

We attended an event a couple of months ago where all the men were clothed and the women naked. I was extremely nervous but once inside and stripped off I began to relax. By the end of the afternoon (it was a Sunday afternoon) it felt almost natural. I wrote about it here: http://masterspleasingbitch.com/2017/09/being-naked/

Julie xx

Pygar said...

Oh that is really interesting Julie. I've been away from the computer for a couple of days so I haven't had chance to look at your blog post yet. Really interesting though that you started to feel relaxed as soon as you were naked.

I will comment again when I have had chance to read your blog post.

All the best

P xx

LadyP said...

To me, being naked amongst clothed men, would be highly erotic! Even writing this I feel erotic. It is a favourite fantasy. For me it is also about being made available to strangers. Not for my pleasure, but for His. Even though I might find pleasure in being touched by strange hands, the whole scene is an erotic act between Him and me. When they touch me, I look Him in the eyes. He says with or without words: Do this for me.

Pygar said...

Thank you for sharing that Lady P.

Just reading your enthusiasm for the dynamic is also erotic!

I hope one day you manage to make your fantasy reality if you dare...

:)

P xx

LadyP said...

Dear Pygar
I have been a servant at a dinner party with 4 males, arranged by Mylord. I was not naked, but not very dressed either. In the beginning...
But alas that was some time ago when we were still very submerged in D/s. Nowadays it is very far away, due to life circumstances. My desires were just reawakened by your question. Thank you.
Lady P
PS. Unfortunately, I cannot make it to Berlin this weekend. Some time next year, maybe ;-)

Pygar said...

Your dinner party sounds to have been fun ...

... well at least for the men! I hope you enjoyed it too.

It is a shame that your life circumstances have taken you away from D/s if you still desire it - and also that you will not be in Berlin this weekend!

;(

Thank you too Lady P

P xx