What’s new
A quiet orgy
27th February 2026
Today’s new artist, Edvard Frank, was reserved and slightly awkward, avoiding public appearances, but his drawings and paintings revealed a rich inner life, teeming with naked bodies, often explicitly sexual, filling the frames to the edges. See Frank’s remarkable work now by clicking here.
Young love
25th February 2026
Another portfolio today from one of our favourite artists, Paul-Émile Bécat – his 1939 plates for the story of Daphnis and Chloé, the two youthful innocents involved in a complex amorous education. Classic Bécat, see them all now by clicking here.
We now have almost all of Bécat’s portfolios on the website, but we are missing one of the most important, his 1956 illustrations for Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal, a limited edition which very rarely appears on the market. If any of you lovely followers has a copy, or knows the whereabouts of one, we would love to hear from you …
Is There Really an ‘Exception Française’ in Erotic Art and Illustration?
22nd February 2026
As you explore the riches of erotic art and illustration on the honesterotica website, it quickly becomes apparent that from the late eighteenth century until the 1940s, and especially in the first half of the twentieth century, the dominant contribution of French artists, writers and publishers is… read more
Love is Blind
21st February 2026
Today’s new artist is Aiko Robinson, who is of New Zealand and Japanese heritage – she is fascinated by the Japanese tradition of shunga, and creates her own remarkable and imaginative versions, which you can see by clicking here for her biography and here for Love is Blind, a collection of her work.
Shiftless
18th February 2026
A week ago we introduced you to the stylish work of Maurice Leroy, and today we have added his most explicit book illustration portfolio, his 1947 plates for La Belle sans Chemise, the story of beautiful Angélique, consigned to a nunnery but determined to escape and explore the world. See La Belle now by clicking here.
Erotic realism
16th February 2026
The naked bodies of Latvian artist Auseklis Baušķenieks carry an erotic charge precisely because they resist spectacle. People inhabit their bodies as they might rooms, conversations, rituals, asking what being naked really means. See Baušķenieks’s work now by clicking here.
The real thing
12th February 2026
Today’s new artist is the groundbreaking Swede Anders Zorn, who in the 1880s and 90s led the way in painting and etching real naked women in real settings rather than endless Dianas and Venuses. Daring and scandalous at the time, we can now appreciate his skill and honesty. See Zorn’s work now by clicking here.
Very little French dressing
10th February 2026
Another almost forgotten French illustrator is today’s new artist, Maurice Leroy, who produced artwork for more than twenty titles during the 1930s and 40s including several erotic classics like Le Bon Plaisir and Chansons de Bilitis. See a great selection of his work now by clicking here.
What sexy fun!
8th February 2026
Claes Oldenburg is best known for his massive, playful pop art sculptures, but he demonstrated the same wit and imagination in sketchbooks full of hilarious, brilliantly executed erotic drawings. You can read all about Claes Oldenburg by clicking here and see his work here.
Chéri
6th February 2026
Colette’s semi-autobiographical novel Chéri, about difficult liaisons, published in 1920, was illustrated twenty years later by one of our favourite artists, Léon Courbouleix. You can see all the illustrations by clicking here – it might inspire you to read the book!
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.