Julian Mandel

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Julian Mandel (1872-1935) was one of the best known photographers of female nudes of the early 20th century. He became known in the 1910s through the early 1930s, publishing in Paris with such firms as Alfred Noyer, Les Studios, P-C Paris, and the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft. Biographical information on Mandel is scarce, and there has been speculation that the name is actually a pseudonym.

His models are often found in highly arranged classical poses. His photographs both in-studio and outdoors are artfully composed, with exquisite tones and soft use of lighting, and show a particular texture created by light rather than shadow. He was a member of and participated in the German avant-garde "new age outdoor" or "plein air" movement, and took numerous pictures in natural settings, playing on the ultra pale, uniform skin tones of the models set against the roughness of nature.

The nude photographs were formatted as postcards, but as "A Brief History of Postcards" explains, "A majority of the French nude postcards were called postcards because of the size. They were never meant to be postally sent. It was illegal" (see History of erotic photography).

His full name usually appears on the front of these cards: Mandel was also one of the few photographers of his day to stamp and/or sign his name on the front of his works (which contributes to the idea that his name might have been a pseudonym).^{[citation needed]} Julian Mandel devoted his life to promoting photography as an art. He is also said^{[citation needed]} to have traveled extensively to other continents, finally settling in Brazil where he married and raised his family, although this may be based on a confusion with another person of similar name.