Carlo was a fetish artist whose work was found in many French BDSM publications in the early 1900s. However, while his work may have been well-known, nothing is really known about the person who created it other than he went by “Carlo.” Not very surprising, considering how accepting society was of hardcore BDSM in the 1920s. It’s fascinating how his artwork shows that while the aesthetics of illustration have changed in the past 100 years, the aesthetics of BDSM have remained pretty much the same. Carlo’s work is a snapshot of how a century ago, people loved horseplay as much as they do today.
