What’s new
Chagrin d’amour
14th January 2022
After the excitements of the last few days, we hope we’re back in uncontroversial territory with today’s new portfolio – the great Marcel Vertès’ 1929 illustrations for Colette’s semi-autobiographical novel Chéri. See his trademark drawings now by clicking here.
We’re back …
12th January 2022
It would appear that Twitter had decided, probably on the basis of an honesterotica follower alert, that our header images were in breach of ‘violating our rules against graphic violence or adult content in profile images’. So for the time being Rosie has decided that her naked breasts are inappropriate, and has bought herself a very fetching blue polka dot bikini. We hope you approve.
Twitter at it again …
12th January 2022
As you will all know and (we hope) appreciate, what we include on the honesterotica website covers the whole gamut of what we consider to be a balanced and thoughtful artistic response to human experience included in the concept of ‘erotic’. We are very aware that not all we include will be to everyone’s taste, and that it is inevitable that some of what we include will be in the borderlands of the conventionally transgressive. However, unless there is a compelling context we will never include imagery that concentrates on deliberate and non-consensual violence or torture.
It appears that the honesterotica Twitter account is currently locked as a result of one or more of our followers objecting to the posting of Stu Mead’s work here. In response, we are clear that Stu’s work has as much right to be seen and considered as that of other ‘transgressive’ artists who have included children in their work, from Hans Bellmer and Albert Dubout to Melinda Gebbie and Anne van der Linden. If, as well as just looking at Mead’s paintings, you read the text accompanying the portfolios, especially the critique of his fellow artist Lenka Klodová, we hope you will understand why we believe that an informed and balanced discussion of the role of art in exploring adolescent sexuality is more important than blanket censorship of an artist’s work.
We have, as before, appealed against Twitter’s unilateral suspension without notice, and hope the account will be restored very soon. In the meantime we respect your right to have your say about anything we include on the honesterotica website. We just ask you in return to respect our judgement and integrity.
If you would like to get in touch with us with your considered thoughts about our editorial choices and decisions, remember that you can always email us at [email protected].
Sex education
12th January 2022
It’s not surprising that the response to Stu Mead’s work, today’s new artist, is strongly polarised. Are paintings of young girls exploring their sexuality an important and vital exploration, or simply obscene? See his work now by clicking here, and decide for yourself.
Ultimate originality
10th January 2022
In 1986 a Washington Post editorial described Brad Holland as ‘the undisputed star of American illustration’, and today we have pleasure in bringing you a selection of his iconic Playboy drawings from that exciting period. See them now by clicking here. Enjoy!
Unflinching
9th January 2022
An original and exciting new artist for you today, the bold and courageous Kitty Brophy, with her midnight black, blinding white and blood red drawings of naked fully-sexed bodies, confident and empowered. See her work now by clicking here – and feel the force!
A scandal in Berlin
7th January 2022
Today’s new artist is Charlotte Berend, who in 1919 created a daring portfolio of drawings, which was immediately censored, of the sensational exotic dancer Anita Berber. Now you can see them all by clicking here, and imagine the scandal they (and Anita Berber) created.
Ah Denisse!
6th January 2022
Get ready to have your concept of the erotic stretched to the limit with today’s new artist, the Mexican cartoonist and illustrator Héctor Stanisłao de la Garza Batorski, better known as Eko. Join the beautiful Denisse in her wild adventures by clicking here. Enjoy!
What makes art erotic – for you?
4th January 2022
Honesterotica will shortly be coming up for our fifth birthday, and we’ve come a long way in that time.We started with just 80 artists; now we have over 340. We started with zero Twitter followers; now we’re well on the way to 10,000. At the beginning we were lucky to have twenty visitors to the… read more
The nature of sex
1st January 2022
The first new artist for a new year is Gérard Gachet – skulls, bones, rocks, shells and reptiles haunt many of his drawings alongside women’s breasts, buttocks and vulvas, the source of life and a subject he found eternally fascinating. See his work 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.