What’s new
The Scarlet Pimpernel of erotica
3rd February 2021
Today’s new artist is even more elusive than Q (our Anon is much more rewarding!). Who was the prolific ‘Fameni’ of the fertile erotic imagination? Whoever they were, you can see the best online collection of their work here. Can you offer any more clues?
Monica Guevara in The Erotic Review
2nd February 2021
One of our favourite illustrators is Monica Guevara and her trademark minimalist line drawings. We’ve just added all her illustrations from The Erotic Review between 1998 and 2002, and hope you think they’re as brilliant and original as we do – see them all here.
A good reason to stay in bed
1st February 2021
An amuse bouche of a new artist today, the almost-forgotten Gaston Trilleau and his ‘libertine morning’ drawings. Proves that sometimes simplest is best. See him at https://honesterotica.com/illustrator/gaston-trilleau…, and enjoy your morning experimenting with a few simple delights.
Tales of Gallant Ladies
31st January 2021
This new portfolio containing the illustrations from the 1950 two-volume edition of Les dames galantes includes the best-known of Brantôme’s tales, accompanied by sixty of Schem’s (here under his real name of Raoul Serres) best book illustrations. They are very much ‘galante’, gently erotic rather than overtly sexual, but there is just enough naked flesh to whet the imagination! See them all here.
What to do with Willy …
30th January 2021
Our next new artist, the German Fritz Erler, was a man of many parts – war artist and Adolf Hitler portraits but also fascinating sexual caricatures, especially of priapi and women’s response to them. Have a look at https://www.honesterotica.com/illustrator/fritz-erler. Interesting ...
Minotaurs, Hombres and Femmes
29th January 2021
We’ve added a really important new artist, the visionary English illustrator and engraver Michael Ayrton, with his wonderful etchings of the Minotaur and his powerful images for Paul Verlaine’s most erotic verses. Enjoy them all at https://honesterotica.com/illustrator/michael-ayrton…. Take your time to enjoy them!
Japanese erotic art and its two-way influence on Western erotic artists
11th January 2021
Shunga Gallery is a sort of sister resource to Honesterotica – whereas we concentrate on western erotic illustration, Shunga Gallery complements us with a comprehensive resource for Japanese and Japanese-inspired erotic art. The Shunga Gallery website was conceived and created by specialist art… read more
Lynn Paula Russell – Retrospective and Sale of Works, 1985–2020
11th January 2021
Lynn Paula Russell is the most-visited artist on the honesterotica website; if you like Paula’s work, and especially if you are interested in buying one of her original works, here is your chance! The gallery she shows her work with, London-based Talisman, is Russell’s main sales agent, and for a… read more
The censorship of erotic art in Germany
10th December 2020
Hans-Jürgen DöppCensorship of art, and especially of erotic art, is a favourite activity of authorities who believe they alone hold the key to public taste and acceptability. In reality censorship tends to be as much about control as about safety, denying creative expression and personal… read more
Conversations with Hans-Jürgen, Part 3
6th November 2020
Here is the third and last part of our interview with Hans-Jürgen Döpp, in which he shared his thoughts about erotica today, the influence of the internet, how he defines erotica – and which are his favourite erotic images of all time.Nobody knew more about erotic art than Hans-Jürgen. His many… read more
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.