Paul Emile Becat
~ 1885 - 1960
Paul-Emile Becat was a French painter, printmaker, and engraver who won first prize at the Prix de Rome in 1920. He trained under Gabriel Ferrier and François Flameng, and made his debut at the Salon de Paris as early as 1913. After travels to the Congo, Gabon, and Sudan in the 1920s, he shifted focus in the 1930s toward drypoint etching, a technique that allowed for fine, intimate detail and subtle shading.
From 1933 onward, Becat became one of the most prolific illustrators of erotic literature in France, producing plates for nearly a hundred books over the following decades. His work often appeared in limited editions of classics by authors like Pierre Louÿs (Aphrodite, Les Chansons de Bilitis, La Femme et le pantin, Roi Pausole), Verlaine, Colette, Laclos, Aretino, and others, as well as contemporary erotic texts. While much of his output depicted sensual nudes, lesbian encounters, and playful or passionate scenes, several pieces and book illustrations subtly or directly explored power dynamics, submission, restraint, and disciplinary themes that resonate with modern BDSM interests. Such as flagellation, dominance, and erotic control, rendered with an elegant, almost innocent line that contrasted the intensity of the subject matter.
Most albums in the gallery below show subject related art, there is one complete collection presented:
- La Religieuse (1947)
8 albums/85 artworks
Lastest Update: February 16, 2026 -> Added 41 artworks in various themes, erotic, bondage, femdom and dark
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