In the Swiss artistic landscape of the mid-twentieth century it is very rare to find an artist working in the genre of the erotic. Marcel Vidoudez, however, was an exception, a maverick who tirelessly explored the pleasures of love. In his secret garden he could give free rein to his inspiration to caress the curves of his imagined women; yet at the same time he retained all his artistic skills: the line is clear and precise, anatomy is scrupulously drawn, the flesh is subtly illuminated by the subtle use of watercolour.

He was, for his time, quite a man of the world, taking his viewers to a hotel room, a gambling den, a deep forest or an exotic landscape. Often the children’s cartoonist is not entirely absent, for in a corner of a licentious composition stands a placid little cat or a mischievous puppy (often with his own erection).

Drunkenness opens the floodgates of erotic encounter, while nature acts as a reservoir of emotions, suggesting to walkers and hunters that they turn away from mushrooms and rabbits to frolic in the woods. His speciality is the chance glimpse of female flesh, with knickers, suspenders and tight stockings suddenly revealed by the sudden kick of a horse, or by the blast of the rascal wind.

Marcel Vidoudez, dessinateur érotique was published in 2013 by Éditions HumuS in collaboration with the Association Marcel Vidoudez. It can be ordered from the Librairie HumuS website which you will find here.