What’s new
Totally naked
14th October 2022
Caroline Westerhout’s painting Totally Naked includes the words ‘This is not about sex! I repeat not!’, emphasising that the naked body is so much more than sexy eroticism; hers is a way relating to nakedness as a far deeper experience. See her work now by clicking here.
All you need … ?
13th October 2022
A taste of the psychedelic 1970s with today’s artist, the American John Boyce, and his illustrations to accompany Anaïs Nin’s erotic works. Their collaboration, Aphrodisiac, has all the hallmarks of the time, frizzy hair, pouty lips and all. See them now by clicking here.
Sealed with a loving painting
12th October 2022
What would you give for a great lover who was also a brilliantly talented artist able to seal your lust with amazing drawings and paintings of your shared intimacy? Try today’s artist, Harry Carmean, who we lost only last year at the amazing age of 99. See his work here.
Southern comfort
11th October 2022
We continue our celebration of black history month with the lively, colourful paintings of southern US artist Georgia Speller, for whom good sex was an integral part of a good and fulfilling life. See her work now by clicking here.
Oh Casanova!
10th October 2022
Forward to 1850 today, with German artist Julius Nisle’s plates for a quickly-supressed translation of Casanova’s amatory exploits. Maybe a little tame now, but certainly not then! See them all now by clicking here.
Men in dresses anyone?
9th October 2022
All the way back to 1787 today, and some of the earliest illustrations on the site – Claude-Louis Desrais’ erotic plates. As so often, priests were up to no good, plus the earliest known depictions of cross-dressing for sexual gratification. See them all now by clicking here.
Après la guerre
8th October 2022
In post-WW2 Paris the quality of available paper may have been poor, but crude wit and fertile imagination still managed to find an outlet in today’s bawdy new portfolio. See the 1947 69 Chansons illustrations now by clicking here.
A château somewhere near Paris …
7th October 2022
It isn’t often that one classic of erotic fiction provides the main inspiration for a talented artist for more than forty years, but The Story of O has done just that for Stefan Prince. See his powerful interpretations of this groundbreaking novel now by clicking here.
Big is beautiful
5th October 2022
If large breasts give you enormous pleasure, whether flaunting or admiring them, today’s new artist is a real treat. The Sicilian Aurelio Pernice – Aurè – shares his colourful world of voluptuous Mediterranean fantasy. See his work now by clicking here. Have fun!
Sexual politics
4th October 2022
October is black history month, and we have pleasure bringing you the first of several important black artists, the Kenyan Michael Soi, with his colourful paintings of modern urban African life – with a social and political undertow. See his work 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.