Archive for the ‘Nude Vs. Lewd’ Category

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Beautiful Vs. Salacious: The History Of Art Lovers’ Magazine 1925-1927. A Book-in-a-Blog, by Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni. Chapter 2, Part 3

June 26, 2026

A century ago, we were more culturally and artistically advanced. Magazines in the 1920s shined a very bright light on art and culture. One such magazine, albeit short lived, Art Lovers’ Magazine, is but one example of a cultural and artistic publication from 100 years ago when magazines ruled the media world. Here is its story:

Dummy book cover designed using Chat GPT

The Philadelphia Ethical Culture Society

So, what are those societies that the Freeman Hubbard and Walter Hubbard were involved in?  According to its website, www.phillyethics.org, The Philadelphia Ethical Culture Society is still active today and it is based on, “Ethical Humanism, a humanist, religious and educational movement, has nurtured religious humanism and contributed to progressive causes for well over a century. Founded in 1885, the Philadelphia Ethical Society is a member of the American Ethical Union.”

The influence of the society is evident in a letter dated August 15, 1925 that Freeman H. Hubbard, in his other role at Hubbard Publications, associate editor of The American Art Student and Commercial Artist, wrote to the National Association for Advancement of Colored People.  In the letter he wrote, “When I was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts some years ago, there was one student who was debarred from a traveling scholarship solely (the rest of us believed) on account of his Negro blood. As an artist he ranked very high.”

He continued, “Although I am not a Negro, the incident made me so bitter against race prejudice, and I determined that I would do all I could to break down such prejudice”

Freeman Hubbard goes on offering the association the opportunity to send him any relevant news, stories, and the full details of the literature and art contest conducted by “The Crisis” the association’s magazine. He promised that he “would probably publish the first, second and third best illustrations submitted in the contest, in this magazine, provided you send them.”

The Philadelphia Law and Order Society

The Philadelphia Law and Order Society was founded in 1881 and was a temperance and Sabbath observance organization. It campaigned for the enforcement of the liquor laws in Philadelphia, the proper observance of the Sabbath, and against “white slavery” (prostitution). It claimed in 1917 to have reduced the number of saloons and similar establishments in Philadelphia from 6,000 to 1,910.

The Rev. Walter Hubbard, the son of one of the founders of Hubbard Publishing Company, was an active member of the society according to the editorial in issue 3 of Art Lovers’ magazine.  He was also an active preacher and lecturer in the Pennsylvania Anti-Saloon League, according to the same editorial.

The Pennsylvania Anti-Saloon League

And the Pennsylvania Anti-Saloon League was founded in 1895 and in 1920 was a powerful organization advocating for prohibition, and working to ban the production, sale, and transportation of alcohol. This was part of a larger nationwide effort, that started in Oberlin, Ohio on May 24, 1893, and culminated in the passage of the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act.  The ban was later repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

So as you see both Hubbard’s were involved in ethical, moral, religious and humanitarian issues even before they worked at Art Lovers’ magazine.  However, their background left a great influence on the magazine and its direction.

Beautiful vs. Salacious

The editorial of the third issue of the magazine, dated March 1925, opens with the following: “ART LOVERS’ MAGAZINE is in thorough sympathy with the nation-wide movement to suppress salacious and crime-inciting literature, and particularly to keep it out of the hands of the young.”

“The iron hand of the law cannot deal too strongly with the fly-by-night printers and publishers who pander to the vices of youth.” The editorial continues.  It goes on to state, “The Hubbard publications have consistently held this position since 1868, when the Hubbard Publishing Company was founded.”

It adds, “We mention these facts because we take great pride in the traditions of the Hubbard publications. We are proud also of the family ties connecting us with the late Elbert Hubbard (he died in 1915) and his son, Elbert Hubbard II, and we lose no opportunity to speak well of the Roycroft publications of East Aurora, N.Y.”

An article in the same issue by R. G. Ingersoll titled “Art and Morality,” the author writes, “There is an infinite difference between the nude and the naked, between the natural and the undressed. In the presence of the pure, unconscious nude, nothing can be more contemptible that those forms in which are the hints and suggestions of drapery, the pretense of exposure, and the failure to conceal. The undressed is vulgar – the nude is pure.”

A mixed bag of ironies

So taking into consideration the facts about the original Hubbard Publications as a Bible publisher, and the fact that the son of one of the founders is a reverend and a preacher, and the editor is a member of an ethical society, it comes to no surprise to read in issue 3 of the magazine the fact that in “reiterating our support of the “clean books” crusade, we wish to make clear, as Elbert Hubbard once pointed out, that there is a difference between lewdity and nudity, despite the similar pronunciation of those two words. Failure to grasp this distinction has led to misdirected effort on the part of some reformers with whom we are otherwise in hearty accord.”

The irony is, Elbert Hubbard was convicted in 1913 on one count of “circulating “objectionable” or “obscene” matter in violation of the postal laws.”  He was later pardoned by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

Freeman H. Hubbard refers in his third issue editorial to a new bill introduced by Senator Love of the New York State Legislature.  The bill introduced to the legislatures would “class a publication as obscene on the basis of any excerpt from it.” Freeman argued, “In other words, condemn an entire book or magazine by separating a sentence or paragraph from its context, instead of judging the publication as a whole.”

He continued, in the signed editorial, “if the Love measure were passed it would make publishers of the Holy Bible, Shakespeare and many other classics liable to prosecution, in addition to publishers of the best art and medical works.”

However, he was quick to note, “Of course, the purveyors of indecent literature would be the hardest hit, but our point is that no publisher could feel safe from the possible attacks of shyster lawyers, blackmailers, and cranks of all kinds.”

His ethics and morals are quick to appear in his last paragraph of the editorial, “By all means, let’s war on the vice and immorality that masquerades under the name of literature, but we dare not surrender the freedom of the legitimate press to a clique of self-appointed censors and overzealous reformers.”

He concludes, “Literature and art are heritages too precious to be shackled by the forces which should be directed entirely against their enemies.”

To sum his views, nudity is art, lewdity is obscene and there is a big difference between the two as you will see in the coming issues of Art Lovers’ magazine.

The magazine continued its growth journey and achieved a print run of 150,000 print run with issue 3, an increase of 25,000 than issue 2.

And Senator Love’s bill did not come to a vote.

Stay tuned for more of the history of Art Lovers’ magazine 1925-1927.

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Art Lover’ Magazine: Nude Vs. Lewd. A Book-in-a-Blog, by Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni, Chapter 2, Part 2

June 18, 2026

A century ago, we were more culturally and artistically advanced. Magazines in the 1920s shined a very bright light on art and culture. One such magazine, albeit short lived, Art Lovers’ Magazine, is but one example of a cultural and artistic publication from 100 years ago when magazines ruled the media world. Here is its story:

Chapter 2, Part 2

Art Lovers’ Volume 1, Number 3

The Hubbard Connection

A lot has been written about Elbert Hubbard the founder of the Roycroft handicraft community of the late 19th century and early 20th century.  The same can be said about Freeman H. Hubbard who was appointed editor of Art Lovers’ magazine commencing with the second issue of the magazine.  However, all the current references about Freeman Hubbard are in his association as an author and editor of Railroad magazine from 1930 until its demise in 1979.

Although Art Lovers’ magazine was published by Art Publications, Inc. in New York City, its covers touted that it is a Hubbard Publication starting with issue 4.  The president of the company was Walter W. Hubbard and the associate editor of the magazine was the “Rev. Walter Warren Hubbard, the son of one the founders of Hubbard Publishing Company” that was founded in Philadelphia, PA in 1868 by Alfred H. Hubbard and Frank W. Judd as the Hubbard Brothers and was renamed the Hubbard Publishing Company in 1893 according to the 19th Century Juvenile Series last revision on Feb. 24, 2025.

The original Hubbard Publishing Company was, “a subscription publishing house” and “a well-known Bible publisher,” according to the source.

One early indication of the relationship between Art Lovers’ magazine and Hubbard Publications is the reference to  Art Lovers’ in a Feb. 1925 article about the photographer James Wallace Pondelicek in Hubbard’s The American Art Student and Commercial Artist magazine.  “Without a doubt, James Wallace Pondelicek, photographer and artist, ranks among the few pictorial photographers of America whose work merits the highest honors. As a figure photographer he is a master,” the editors wrote.

They continued, “Of late Mr. Pondelicek, whose work has appeared in the columns of this, and of Art Lovers’ Magazine, has been going in for advertisement illustration.  We hope to persuade him, at some time in the near future, to contribute an article, helpful and technical, based on his experiences along that line.”

With the second issue of the magazine, the Hubbard connection became more obvious. In addition to Walter W. Hubbard and Freeman H Hubbard, the magazine announced the appointment of “the Rev. Walter W. Hubbard, of the Philadelphia Law and Order Society and of the Pennsylvania Anti-Saloon League as associate editor with this issue.”

Between the credentials of Freeman H Hubbard and the Rev. Walter W. Hubbard, you will think Art Lovers’ is more of moral, religious magazine. Read how Freeman was introduced when they announced him as editor of the magazine, “The publishers of ART LOVERS’ MAGAZINE announce the appointment of Freeman H. Hubbard, A.B., as editor, effective with this issue.”

“Mr. Hubbard was a scholarship winner at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts…In addition, he is well known as a writer of short stories…Mr. Hubbard is recognized as an authority on ethics, having recently received the award of the Philadelphia Ethical Culture Society for the best statement of the meaning of the ethical movement.”

The editorial added, “His connection with ART LOVERS’ Magazine, therefore, is assurance that it will be kept to a high moral standard without losing any of its attractiveness.”

As for the Rev. Water W. Hubbard, the associate editor of the magazine is introduced in issue 3 as, “The son of one of the founders of the Hubbard Publishing Company—the Rev. Walter Warren Hubbard, of the Philadelphia Law and Order Society, widely known preacher and lecturer for the Pennsylvania Anti-Saloon League…”

In fact the Reverand Water Warren Hubbard had a story in issue 3 of the magazine titled, “Three Red Sweaters and a Canary Bird.”  Another Hubbard also wrote for the magazine; Henry D. Hubbard, the assistant director of Bureau of Standards, Washington, D. C.: He wrote about “Ther Motion Pictures of Tomorrow.”

Yet, one more Hubbard is also included in the third issue of Art Lovers’ magazine. Hesketh Hubbard, “eminent British artist, has assembled a collection of two hundred and thirty-two prints by ninety-seven contemporary British artists, which arrived in this country recently for exhibition, during March, at the Brooklyn Museum, and later in other museums and galleries in this country.”

The publishers of Art Lovers’ magazine were also proud of their relationship with the late “Elbert Hubbard and his son, Elbert Hubbard II, and we lose no opportunity to speak well of the Roycroft publications of East Aurora, N.Y.”

To be continued…

Next: Ethical issues in the American land…

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Lewd Vs. Nude: A Bible Publisher Launches Art Lovers’ Magazine A Century Ago. From the Vault, A Book-in-a-Blog By Mr. Magazine™ Chapter 2, Part 1.

June 8, 2026

A century ago, we were more culturally and artistically advanced. Magazines in the 1920s shined a very bright light on art and culture. One such magazine, albeit short lived, Art Lovers’ Magazine, is but one example of a cultural and artistic publication from 100 years ago when magazines ruled the media world. Here is its story:

Chapter 2, Part 1

A Bible Publisher Turns to Art

The beginning: A magazine for everyone

The first issue of Art Lovers’ Magazine Jan. 1925

There was no indication in the first issue of Art Lovers’ magazine that the magazine was a Hubbard Publication.  The editorial page carried no masthead, and no table of contents. It served as a page, “In which we become acquainted with you, the reading public.”

The magazine was introduced as such: “ART LOVERS’ MAGAZINE will be published monthly, each month of the year, from their offices at 15 Park Row, New York, N.Y. It is owned and published by Art Publications, Inc., and is not connected, in any way, with any other publication at present.”

The only Hubbard name appearing in this issue was that of Freeman H Hubbard who wrote the short story “Yvonne” on pages 4 and 5.  Later, in issue 2 of Art Lovers’, a masthead appears announcing that the magazine is published monthly by Art Publications, Inc., 15 Park Row, New York City, (other Hubbard Publications were published at 21 Park Row) with Walter W. Hubbard name as president and an announcement of appointing Freeman H Hubbard as editor of the magazine.  It was not until issue 4 that the cover of the magazine carried the line, “A Hubbard Publication,” while the masthead continued to say it is an Art Publications, Inc. magazine.

The second issue of Art Lovers’ magazine Feb. 1925

The cover of the first issue of the magazine featured two women, one half naked, in a room setting chatting with each other. Nudity was present in abundance in the inside pages of the magazine that touted “Beauty, Fiction, Art and Life.”  With issues 2 and 3, the word Truth was added to the tag line reading, “A Magazine of Truth, Beauty, Fiction, Art, and Life.”  However, the word Truth did not last but for those two issues.  With issue 4, the word Truth disappeared from the tag line.

Unlike other art magazines of that period, Art Lovers’, in the words of its editors, “will, to the best of our ability, be ‘an all-around meal’ for every one in the family, especially to lovers of beauty, art, fiction, and the theatres. It will contain, each month, excellent stories; — mystery, love, adventure, and true-to -life tales; fully illustrated.”

The editors continue, “We have purposely avoided making this a ‘one-track’ magazine. It is something you can spend hours with; buy it before you go on a railroad journey this winter, for example, and see just how quickly time flies.”

No advertising in the first issue

Another point of differentiation from the rest of the magazines of that era, is that the editors decided not to accept any ads in the first issue. They wrote, “Before the magazine went to press at our rotogravure plant we were obliged to turn down slightly over two pages of advertising.  The editorial board decided that there must positively be no advertising in the initial number, and the business office has reluctantly yielded.”

However, the magazine’s editorial board was not completely against accepting ads in the magazine, for they were quick to add, “Future advertising will be scrupulously analyzed before it is accepted for these pages and every effort will be made to keep the highest standards possible. This means protection for us as well as for the readers.”

Another promise: Picture and fiction magazine

The editors added one more promise to the readers of the magazine, “Within the next few months the number of pages will be materially increased, and color covers will be added later. Every improvement possible will be carefully considered and acted upon, — in and endeavor to fill the need of a combined picture and fiction magazine. And in the meantime, –‘On with the dance,– let joy be unconfined.”

Next: The Hubbard Connection

And in case you missed the four parts of chapter one here are the links

Chapter 1 Part 1

Chapter 1 Part 2

Chapter 1 Part 3

Chapter 1 Part 4

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Nude Vs. Lewd: Art Lovers’ Magazine 1925-1927. A Centennial History: A Book-In-A-Blog Part 4. The Audience

May 21, 2026

A century ago, we were more culturally and artistically advanced. Magazines in the 1920s shined a very bright light on art and culture. One such magazine, albeit short lived, Art Lovers’ Magazine, is but one example of a cultural and artistic publication from 100 years ago when magazines ruled the media world. Here is its story:

The Audience

In case you are wondering how many artists and art students were there in the 1920s to support and sustain these magazines, the answer is simple: E.B. Hesser wrote in the first issue of ARTS MONTHLY PICTORIAL, “To the laymen, it is surprising how many people need this magazine in their daily word. Without exaggeration, we can point to the following figures: 24,000 photographers, 15,000 commercial artists, including theater lobby artists, 20,000 teachers of art in high and elementary schools, 3,000 advertising experts, 350 editorial and make up men on rotogravure sections of newspapers…”

He added, “All these in addition to thousands of advanced art students, and artists who are “live” enough to keep abreast of the newest compositional ideas. So it is easy to see that this magazine has a decided and distinct field to cover.”

Hesser was quick to add, “It should be regarded primarily as an art trade publication, but it is so edited that nothing therein should be offensive to a clean minded laymen.”

And Hesser was not alone defining his audience. MODERN ART AND STORIES identified itself as “A magazine devoted to the inspiration and technical development of the Graphic Arts. Published for the use of Artists and Art Students, not the general public.”

The same can be said about Paris Art magazine; “With this issue PARIS ART is introduced to art and camera students and all who are interested in the development of modern art.”

One has to wonder if the fact that those magazines are not aimed at the general public, with less than 65,000 possible population according to Hesser’s number, was just a ploy to avoid the troubles with the vice societies, the United States Postal Service, and The New York Daily newspaper that launched a crusade “to eliminate the art magazines from the newstands  (sic) resulted in a tremendous increase of the sales of these magazines should prove that the majority of our readers look upon these magazines as a means toward aiding themselves,” wrote the editors of Art & Beauty magazine in that same issue of April 1927.

However, the leading organization that was after the art magazines and other publications they considered immoral was the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.

The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice

In the 1920s there was a non-governmental agency by the name of The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.  The society was founded in 1873 to enforce laws for the “suppression of trade in and circulation of obscene literature, and illustrations, advertisements, and articles of indecent and immoral use, as it is or may be forbidden by the laws of the State of New York or of the United States.”

The society was a direct dissentient of the Young Men’s Christian Association and was spearheaded by Anthony Comstock, who served as the secretary of the society and as well as an agent and inspector for both the Society and the United States Postal Service.  (nyhistory.org)

Upon Mr. Comstock death in 1915, John S. Sumner succeeded him in the role of secretary and an agent and inspector for both the Society and the United States Postal Service.

This society was chartered by the New York state legislature, “which granted its agents the powers of search, seizure, and arrest, and awarded the society half of all fines levied in resulting cases.” Encyclopedia of Censorship, New York: Facts on File, 2005. Page 522.

One documented case on how this Society acted in New York City in the 1920s can be found in a one page editorial that Samuel Roth wrote in the March 1927 issue of Beau magazine. Under the heading “MR. SUMNER and BEAU” Samuel Roth, the editor and publisher of the man’s magazine wrote, “Thursday morning, January 27th of this year, I received word from the organization which nurses the sales of TWO WORLDS MONTHLY (Roth’s other magazine) and BEAU nationally that the February issues of these periodicals, which had already been shipped out to all points domestic and foreign, would not be distributed for sale upon the news stands (sic) of New York City.”

“Upon inquiry, I learned that Mr. John Sumner, secretary of that charming body of people known as the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, had communicated with the local distributing agency, and had informed it that if certain advance information concerning the impending numbers of TWO WORLDS MONTHIY and BEAU was accurate he would take immediate action against any company that would dare to distribute them in New York City.  The local agency had the alternative to refuse to distribute, which it did.”

Mr. Roth, with his lawyer, went to meet with Mr. Sumner.  He brought with him copies of the magazines that he found out that Mr. Sumner have not seen or read.  Mr. Roth told Mr. Sumner that the two magazines “are written and published for the sophisticated only, that neither by lewd pictures or lewd contents do we make appeal to the baser passions of mankind.”

Mr. Sumner promised Mr. Roth to look at the magazines overnight and would render a decision in the morning. “Came the dawn– and” Mr. Roth wrote, “confident and carefree, I went to see Mr. Sumner who very speedily dissipated my peace of mind. TWO WORLDS MONTHLY was quite alright, he said, and we could go ahead distributing it immediately, but BEAU, ah, that was a different story. It was absolutely unthinkable to let BEAU go out on the harmless news stands dripping with nudes which any little boy may purchase for fifteen cents. No, he did not approve BEAU and if I dared to issue it of my own accord he would unfailingly prosecute me.”

It’s that very fragile line that separates nudity from lewdity that the art magazines had to maneuver their way with the Society and the United States Postal Service.  That is the main reason the art magazines of the 1920s continued to emphasize that they are not for general public, but rather for artists and art students.

In the words of E. B. Hesser, the founder of ARTS Monthly Pictorial, he wrote, “The Magazine of Pictures for Artists and Art Students.” He added that the magazine “should be regarded primarily as an art trade publication, but it is so edited that nothing therein should be offensive to a clean minded layman.”

Unlike the rest of the art magazines, a new magazine appeared on the newsstands in January of 1925 with the name Art Lovers’ vowing to be completely different than the rest of the publications, yet it did not escape the wrath of Mr. Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.  What follows is its story.

The first issue of Art Lovers’ magazine January 1925

To be continued…

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