What’s new
Yet another mystery artist …
30th April 2021
Thaddeus of the Tight Balls (Taddeo de las Pelotas Tiesas) is today’s enigmatic new artist, with his 1925 portfolio Prince Eversharp, one of the bluntest phalli we have ever seen! But wit and graphic skill abound; enjoy these colourful prints here.
The pleasure of the terrible …
29th April 2021
Sometimes it can be the appalling amateurism of an artist that gives erotic imagery a welcome earthiness and brings a smile to our faces. So it is with today’s new artist, the mysterious 1920s Mitja Leytho, with his awful drawing and gaudy colours. See his attempts at art here.
O l’amour!
28th April 2021
Today’s new artist is the legendary cartoonist André Barbe, with his very French take on love and life and his trademark cinematographic transforming narratives. See a great cross-section of his imaginative work here. Enjoy!
Once upon a time …
27th April 2021
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Frog King, Hansel and Gretel, Snow White – but not the way we were told them as children! Today’s new artist is Rudolf Keller, with his imaginative 1919 portfolio of erotic fairy tales. See them now by going here. Enjoy!
Tales from Sodom
26th April 2021
If you like the idea of Bolloximion, king of Sodom, and Cuntigratia, his queen, you’ll probably enjoy the stylish illustrations of the Jugendstil artist Julius Klinger, almost unbelievably created in 1909. See his work now and be amazed!
Scratch and sniff?
25th April 2021
Rafael Dussan’s art has been likened to cave paintings, exploring the infantile impulse to scratch the wall and draw bodies that move between one painting and another. See his thought-provoking Histoire de l’Oeil series, new on the website today.
Slip of the tongue?
21st April 2021
A special treat for you all today, a new portfolio from your favourite artist, Lynn Paula Russell. It’s the original drawings from her 2005 Going Down guide to cunnilingus. You could even buy one if you can afford it! See them all here.
Vulva appreciation
18th April 2021
If you didn’t look carefully, you might think that James Walter Lee’s delicate studies were beautiful seashells; in fact they help us appreciate the exquisite detail and enormous variety of women’s sexual landscape. New on the website today, see his vulva drawings here.
SM from an angry young artist
15th April 2021
Another daring and imaginative 1920s German illustrator today, Georg Scholz with his colourful portfolio of disturbing sadomasochistic images Marquis d’Aunage. They are up on the website now; you can see them here. Bravely honest or completely over the top?
Lust and vice …
14th April 2021
A brilliant graphic designer and innovative illustrator, the German Alphons Woelfle also had to have a try at an erotic portfolio – hence his 1930 Of Lust and Vice. Newly added to the website, you can now see it 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.