The Pornographic Delicatessen: Mid-Century Montreal's Erotic Art, Media, and Spaces (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781988111599)

Explores the overlooked erotic art movement in Quebec after World War II.

Following the Second World War, Montreal earned a reputation as a North American hotbed of eroticism due to its red-light district, nightclub scene, and pornography industry. Although this erotic environment had a significant presence in the art and media of the period, the topic has been neglected by scholars. The Pornographic Delicatessen offers an important examination of the development of erotic art and design in the city's postwar and Quiet Revolution era.

Matthew Purvis surveys a range of erotic materials to rediscover nearly forgotten artworks in a period that expanded definitions of what could be considered art. He stresses the confluence of visual art and film, magazines, and journalism during the period as formal models passed from surrealism and automatism into the evolution of a Quebec-specific variation of Pop Art called "ti-pop."

The Pornographic Delicatessen reveals how eroticism was central to marginal art as well as how aspects were adapted and assimilated into the expanding field of institutionalized art being constructed through state intervention.

Author: Matthew Purvis
ISBN-10: 1988111595
ISBN-13: 9781988111599
Publisher: Concordia University Press
Language: English
Published: 11/19/2025
Pages: 424
Format: Paperback