In our last article on Pichard’s works, we focused on his exciting interpretations of famous novels by Apollinaire and Zola. Working within the genre of erotic strips, Pichard couldn’t keep well-known Kama Sutra treatise out of sight and created a series of illustrations in two volumes for selected parts, both published in 1991.
Covers of two volumes illustrated by Georges Pichard
Ars Amatoria
“Kama Sutra,” commonly regarded as a manual of sex positions, is not merely an instruction on how to diversify your sex activity. This Indian treatise, allegedly composed in the 4th century CE by Vatsyayana Mallanaga from the writings of several other authors, in fact, belongs to the genre founded by Ovid with his elegy series “Ars Amatoria” (1st century CE) consisting of three books: 2 books on how to seduce a woman and one book on how to seduce a man).
Title of a German translation of Ovid’s “Ars amatoria“, printed in 1644 (Wikipedia.org)
“Kama Sutra,” which addresses mainly a male audience, consists of 7 parts. Each part includes from 2 to 10 chapters.
Contents and Selected Quotes from Volume I
⦁ Society and Social Concepts (Household activity, The Daily Life of Citizen, Classes of Women That Fit for Congress with Citizen)
Headpiece of the first part of the book
⦁ On Sexual Union (Kinds of Union, On the Embrace, On Kissing, On Marking with Nails, On Biting, On the Various Ways of Lying Down and the Different Kinds of Congress, On the Various Ways of Striking and of the Sounds Appropriate to Them, About Females Acting the Part of Males, On Holding the Lingam in the Mouth, How to Begin and How to End the Congress)
Headpiece of the second part
Kinds of Union
“Men are divided into three classes: the hare men, the bull men, and the horse men, according to the size of their lingams. Women also, according to the depth of their yoni are either female deer, mares, or female elephants. Equal unions: hare/deer, bull/mare, horse/elephant. In unequal unions, when the male exceeds the female in point of size, his union with a woman who is immediately next to him in size is called high union, while his union with the woman most remote from him in size is called the highest union. On the other hand, when the female exceeds the male in point of size, her unions with men of smaller sizes are low and the lowest. Among all these, equal unions are the best: those of a superlative degree are the worst.”
Ways of genitalia stimulation
On the ways of kissing and embracing
Eight ways of scratching with the nails
On biting
On means that can be used during the congress
On the different kinds of congress
On different kinds of congress
On different kinds of congress
On the various modes of striking
On women acting the part of a man
On mouth congress
Mouth congress
“There are two kinds of eunuchs, those that are disguised as males and those that are disguised as females. Latter imitate female dress, speech, gestures, etc. These eunuchs derive their imaginative pleasure and their livelihood from the mouth congress and they lead the life of courtesans. Eunuchs disguised as males keep their desires secret and when they wish to do anything, they lead the life of shampooers. Under the pretense of shampooing, a eunuch of this kind embraces and draws toward himself the thighs of the man whom he is shampooing, and after this he touches the joints of the thighs and the jaghana (buttocks). Then if he finds the lingam of the man erect, he presses it with hands and chaffs him. If after this and after knowing the eunuch’s intention, the man doesn’t tell the eunuch to proceed, then the latter does it on his own accord and begins the congress. If, however, he is ordered by the man to do it, then he disputes with him, and consents at last, but only with difficulty.”
On how to begin and how to end the congress
And a bunch of other illustrations…
Click here for part two, here to visit Ito Seiu’s torture chamber, here for Shoji Oki’s macabre sensuality, or here to check out a rare BDSM/shunga album…!!
What do you think about the visual adaptation of the Kama Sutra by Georges Pichard? Leave your reaction in the comment box below….!!
