We've always loved the erotic art of Suzanne Ballivet - it straddles a line between Deco & kitsch, simplistic & ornate, lighthearted & sensual, that gives it a broad & immediate appeal not always shared by other erotica. Plus she was a woman who created predominantly erotic pieces in a era where female artists tended to be the exception no matter what the subject matter, let alone the largely marginalized world of erotica. But we've held off doing a featured gallery because it's still difficult to find many high-quality reproductions of her work, and her biographical information is just a broad outline at this point. But... her stuff is great, so we gave in to offer you this small gallery - please excuse the relatively low-res images, we'll be sure to update once we find better copies!

Ballivet (1904-1985) has been at various points described as a pseudonym for other "mainstream" artists (Mariette Lydis, for one), but it's fairly clear she was a real live person. Born in Montpelier, and at times residing in both Paris & Nice, her earlier career was spent doing theatrical set design, anatomical illustration, and fashion design. It seems she traveled in artistic circles from an early age, as her father was a photographer, both of her husbands artists & illustrators themselves, and she was known to be friends with French playwrights * writers such as Marcel Pagnol, et al.

Sometime in the WWII years she began publishing the erotic illustrations she's known for, often for anthologies & volumes by well-known French writers - Baudelaire, Colette, Rimbaud - and also in periodicals of the era. Here's a small assortment of her work, enjoy!