Claire Hénault began producing bookplates, or ex libris, in 1993, and the form provides an especially congenial setting for the erotic and fantastical elements of her imagination. These are more than marks of ownership – her miniature compositions transform the space around a name into elaborate scenes of sensuality, fantasy and desire.

Naked and partially dressed figures appear in intimate encounters, sometimes embracing or kissing, sometimes simply displaying themselves with an unabashed sensuality. Men and women, women together, are caught in moments of erotic play, while elaborate costumes, feathers, masks, books and fantastical accessories introduce an element of theatricality. In some designs the eroticism is deliberately playful – a naked woman reading or writing becomes part of the visual joke of the bookplate, while elsewhere the act of reading itself becomes entangled with sexual fantasy.