What’s new
The spices of (erotic) life
25th March 2023
A new helping of erotic humour today from the inventive illustrator André Collot, his 1955 portfolio Épices – Spices. Did you know that in French ‘confesses’ (confessions) can be divided into ‘con’ (cunt) and ‘fesses’ (buttocks)? See the whole shebang by clicking here.
Stirrings
23rd March 2023
And here’s the second complete high-resolution update – Frans de Geetere’s stark 1928 etchings for the story of two adolescent schoolgirls exploring their sexuality, Un été à la campagne. See them all now by clicking here.
The oldest profession
23rd March 2023
With many thanks to a Californian collector, we now have pleasure in updating a couple of important folios to complete high-resolution series – click here for the inimitable Rojan’s 1935 Examen de Flora. Can Flora become an exemplary prostitute?
French frolics
22nd March 2023
Subtly titillating rather than explicitly erotic, that’s today’s new portfolio from the French artist Gaston Barret. It’s his 1952 illustrations to Jean de La Fontaine’s ever-so-slightly-naughty seventeenth-century tales. See them all now by clicking here.
Consensuality …
21st March 2023
Today’s new artist, the Swiss nonogenarian Boris Vansier, raises many contemporary issues around consent and artist-model relationships with his Offrandes (Offerings). Made over a remarkable seventy years, you can see his thought-provoking work now by clicking here.
Our own little world
15th March 2023
The closed eyes and tight embraces of Nicoletta Tomás Caravía’s lovers demonstrate how sensual passion can sometimes be all-consuming. Today’s new artist, you can see Nicoletta’s lovers now by clicking here.
Nubility
11th March 2023
Pierre Louÿs’ Les chansons de Bilitis, a tale of young lesbian love in ancient Greece, is one of the most successful literary frauds of all time, and one of the most-illustrated of French erotic texts. Today we add Gaston Barret – lots of nubile pinkness which you can see by clicking here.
Dwellers all in time and space
10th March 2023
Today’s new artist, the Canadian Mat Brown, takes nothing less than all of time and space as his creative inspiration, producing breathtaking and vividly-coloured images full of thought-provoking detail. See his remarkable work now by clicking here.
Try this at home …
8th March 2023
Today’s new artist is the American Robert Baxter, and his 1976 drawings for Xaviera Hollander’s bestselling Supersex. At the time very daring, it encouraged many to experiment more with their love lives. See all his ‘exquisitely erotic’ illustrations by clicking here.
Mummy mia!
6th March 2023
Ancient Egypt comes to the fore in today’s new portfolio by the Croatian artist Milivoj Uzelac. It’s his 1947 illustrations for Théophile Gautier’s novel about the mummy of Tahoser, a beautiful – and sexually precocious – young princess. Enjoy them 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.