Davanzo
~ Date of birth unknown
Davanzo. The name pops up in dusty corners of old French erotica catalogs, and if you blink, you’ll miss him. Italian, probably. Active in the 1920s and '30s, mostly in Paris. He drew for the Collection des Orties Blanches, a wild series of underground novels that were basically the Playboy of spanking and BDSM back when that kind of thing could land you in jail.
Most collectors and historians think “Davanzo” was a fake name for Mario Laboccetta, an Italian illustrator who also went by Marilac and maybe even Wighead. Using aliases kept the cops and censors away.
But perhaps the artist using the name Davanzo is the same as Arthur Felix Joseph Treichler (who also used Davanzo as pseudonym):
Born in 1896, active from the 1930s to the 1950s, with a focus on elegant, sensual figures (women in corsets, dynamic poses). This fits perfectly with the black-and-white etchings in L'Éducation de Chérubin (1934), where Davanzo supplied 12 plates for Jean Fort’s clandestine press.
His later work (e.g., dancers or Andersen illustrations) exhibits the same precise linework and decadent flair.
The artist's style? Clean lines, dramatic poses, and just enough detail to make you lean in. Black-and-white mostly, sometimes with a splash of color. Stern governesses in lace, bored housewives with riding crops, naughty maids bent over velvet chairs. The women in his artworks are in charge. The men (or other women) take it with a mix of pain and secret thrill.
A great eye for detail can be discovered as well: a cigarette dangling from a dominatrix’s lips, a mirror catching the action, a raised eyebrow that says “you asked for this.” It’s not just violence it’s theater. You can almost hear the slap and the gasp.
Compared to darker artists like van Maële, Davanzo keeps it playful. There’s tension, sure, but also a wink.
Featured in gallery:
- Iréne et son esclave (first printed in December 1933,and reissued in 1934)
- Education de Chérubin (1934)
2 albums/19 artworks
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