What’s new
Erotika
16th November 2023
A 1940s amuse-bouche for you today, an anonymous portfolio of well-executed sexual fantasies, probably by a Czech artist. All the usual encounters, plus a daring threesome – see them all now by clicking here.
Come up and see my etchings …
15th November 2023
Not the most explicitly erotic images by today’s standards, but in the late 18th century Charles Eisen was the leading French engraver illustrating libertine texts. See the complete plates for Boccaccio’s Decameron and La Fontaine’s stories now by clicking here.
Right royal goings on
14th November 2023
What was it about Spain’s plump Queen Isabella II, her husband Francisco de Paula and her confessor Antonio Maria Claret that was so attractive to 1860s political satirist Valeriano Domínguez Bécquer? Find out and see all his explicit watercolours now by clicking here.
Roman justice?
13th November 2023
It’s a great pleasure to bring you all a new portfolio by Raoul Serres, aka Schem. It’s his illustrations for a 1949 edition of La porte de l’âne (The Donkey Gate), the story of the fate of Antonia, an (understandably) unfaithful Roman woman. See them all now by clicking here.
Double take
7th November 2023
Twisted humour and telling visual juxtapositions – that’s the work of today’s new artist, San Francisco-based Mitsu Okubo, with his deceptively simple drawings and collages. But every one is worth a second look. See them all now by clicking here.
Sex in Venice
6th November 2023
Thanks to two lovely friends we now have both versions – colour and duotone – of Georges Drain’s enchanting illustrations for the Marquis de Sade’s Le bordel de Venise (The Venice Brothel). Only eight of them, but true 1920s French classics. See them all now by clicking here.
Sex Parisian-style
5th November 2023
One of the best-known Parisian magazine artists of the early twentieth century, Zygmunt Brunner only illustrated two erotic classics – and we have both of them. See his stylish portfolios for Gamiani and Le Diable au Corps now by clicking here.
The complexity of the engaged artist
3rd November 2023
Brilliant painter, philosopher, social activist, obsessive bibliophile, ardent lover of women – that’s today’s remarkable new artist, Robert Lenkiewicz. A complex and driven painter who put himself at the heart of his local community, see his work now by clicking here.
Gamiani reprise
31st October 2023
Alfred de Musset’s ‘Gamiani’ is one of the best-known classics of French erotic literature, and one of the most-often illustrated. Today’s new addition is from 1935, by the ubiquitous Anonymous, and you can see it (donkey, monkey, hanged man and all) by clicking here.
Chansons érotiques
30th October 2023
A 1923 set of illustrations today to Béranger’s Erotic Songs, by Alex Virot, much better known as a pioneer French broadcaster than as an artist. But he did also like fleshly pursuits and wasn’t a half bad illustrator, as you’ll see if you click 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.