What’s new
Pondering sex, obsession and death
5th March 2021
Today’s new artist is, despite his name, an important German artist – Eddy Smith. A brilliant engraver, he made this thought-provoking erotic portfolio in 1921, full of detail and symbolism; see it here, look carefully, and wonder what was in his mind.
Sunny days, naked skin
4th March 2021
Some light relief for you all today, as we start to imagine light at the end of the viral tunnel and sunny days on the beach – Images d’Amour, the last colourful portfolio of the great Marcel Vertès. Bask in the warmth; the portfolio is here.
Simple rural pleasures
3rd March 2021
Today’s new artist (and the 200th on the site, what a landmark!) is Georges Kars, and his sketchbook of (imagined?) encounters on the Eastern Front during WW1. See his Huzules Intimes here, and enjoy their simple artistry.
Michel Fingesten, printmaker extraordinaire
2nd March 2021
Michel Fingesten is one of the most original and productive graphic artists and bookplate designers of the mid-twentieth century, and we have just added many of his best and most thought-provoking erotic images, which you can see here. Marvel and enjoy!
Annie and Nibbil go exploring …
26th February 2021
New sexy lesbian pleasures today from Colleen Coover’s delightful comic book Small Favors. Meet Annie and Nibbil and join them in their shared exploration – then buy the book! All is revealed here.
Woman of the world (and closet lesbian?)
24th February 2021
Though her best erotic work was produced a century ago, the Vienna-born internationalist Lene Schneider-Kainer was a thoroughly modern woman who would probably not have felt out of place today. Read all about her, and see her lesbian-inspired work, here.
Is sex a mistake?
23rd February 2021
We’ve just added one of the rare classics of erotic illustration, the 1926 Errors of Love by the mysterious J B de Lapin; does the ‘rabbit’ pseudonym suggest concern about the actual purpose of sex? See the whole portfolio here, and discuss among yourselves.
Twilight and rebirth – sex and art at the turn of the twentieth century
22nd February 2021
Edward Munch, Vampir (Vampire), 1895
Around the year 1900, and increasingly into the early years of the twentieth century, there was something of a sexual identity crisis in society generally and in art particularly.
Long-held assumptions about male dominance and virility and female… read more
Free and easy in Nice!
21st February 2021
The freely-drawn modernist art of Sylvain Vigny is today's new offering, with an inspirational Mediterranean take on la vie erotique. He demonstrates that you can produce great erotic art without taking immense care to ‘get it right’! See his work here.
A courageous and daring artist
20th February 2021
Today’s new artist, Erich Godal, was an important figure in both the artistic and political history of the twentieth century, both for his simple erotic art and his courage as a radical cartoonist. See his work here and learn all about him.
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.