What’s new
150 years old, but very modern!
8th February 2022
Albert Hendschel was Germany’s best-known illustrator for half a century from 1870, but not many knew about his erotic output. What little of it has survived is now on the website here – it includes a happy foursome, and a number of dildos and strap-ons.
Décor with an erotic twist …
7th February 2022
Best known as one of the great masters of the Art Nouveau poster, we have great pleasure today in bringing you Henri Privat-Livemont’s more explicitly erotic side, including the most amazing genitally-themed boudoir decorations. See his work now by clicking here.
Nineteenth-century Parisian frissons
5th February 2022
Back to the nineteenth century today, with some rather suggestif engravings from Paul Gavarni, probably the best known and popular Parisian illustrator of his time. Relatively innocent maybe, but consent not very high on the agenda … See his work now by clicking here.
A fabulous erotic cabaret comes to town!
4th February 2022
A talented painter with an instantly-recognisable realist style and attention to detail, today’s new artist is David Delamare and his wonderful fantasy cabaret portfolio Animerotics. Remarkable art from an original imagination! See the whole set now by clicking here.
Freeing the Swiss imagination
3rd February 2022
Many ‘conventional’ illustrators had to keep their erotic output secret in order to maintain their livelihood; none more so than today’s artist, the Swiss Marcel Vidoudez, whose stash of watercolours was found after his death. Now we can share them here.
A very French way of looking at sex …
27th January 2022
Today we bring you the work of one of the great French cartoon artists, Alex Varenne. Though his views on women leave something to be desired, there is no denying his artistic skills and originality. See his work now by clicking here.
The inimitable R. Crumb
21st January 2022
Here’s the one so many of you have been waiting for, the inimitable cartoonist Robert Crumb. From his over-the-top 1968 Snatch to his 2009 version of Adam and Eve, via My Troubles with Women, see a telling cross-section of his work now by clicking here. Enjoy!
A gay pioneer
19th January 2022
Quietly courageous and infinitely imaginative – that’s today’s new artist, Marcus Behmer, who in the 1930s created some of the most beautiful (and now the rarest) of homoerotic art. See his work now by clicking here, and be humbled and inspired.
Naked rules
18th January 2022
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, better known simply as Colette, was a woman way ahead of her time. In 1938, after a controversial career as a writer and performer, she wrote an essay on nakedness entitled Nudité, to which Carlègle added appropriate drawings. You can see them now by clicking here.
Shunga Shunga!
15th January 2022
Today’s new artist is New York-based Jeff Faerber, with his amazing modern takes on the traditional Japanese erotic genre of Shunga art. Take your time with his work, it’s worth it! See his Shunga – together with his paintings of real women – now by clicking here.
Important recent updates
✨ Illustrator and portfolio lists
One of the most common requests we get (and the responses to the recent questionnaire confirm this) is that it would be really useful to have complete listings of all the artists and portfolios on the website – as of May 2026 728 artists and 2,003 portfolios!
So we’ve listened and heard … and by following this link you will find files with these listings in alphabetical order (and where there are several portfolios with the same name their artists will be in order too). The lists are in PDF format, so you can download, save and search them. They duplicate what you can already find in the artist and portfolio listings on the website, but if you’re really into erotic art and illustration and would like a quick ready reference, you should find these invaluable. Enjoy!
✨ Helping you to find your way around
You asked for it, we’ve done it – all the artists on the site now have a set of ‘Similar artists’ links at the end of their biography, so whether it’s bookplate artists, spanking artists, gay artists, whatever, you can cruise easily from artist to similar artist. Have fun!
✨ Hans-Jürgen Döpp, 1940–2025
Few people have shared their wisdom, experience – and wonderful collection of erotic art – more than Hans-Jürgen Döpp, who sadly died last year at the age of 84. For more than half a century Hans-Jürgen devoted himself to the study and collection of erotic art, not as a marginal curiosity or a private indulgence, but as an essential part of human culture. Through his work as a scholar, teacher, curator, author and collector, he helped establish erotic art as a serious field of artistic and historical enquiry. He was an enthusiastic supporter of honesterotica, sharing more than 200 of his portfolios with us, helping to make the website a unique resource of erotic art that would otherwise have been lost to the world. Read our tribute to Hans-Jürgen here.
✨ The difficult mirror
Artists, childhood, and the challenge of looking
At a time of growing concern about online child safety, we are very aware of how we handle the sensitive subject of depictions of children in art, especially ‘erotic art’. We have added an important Themes and Topics article here, which helps explore how artists over time have depicted naked children, and why it is as important to think seriously about what art is for and how we look at and experience it as about what is actually being depicted. Read the piece and see what you think.