Erotic art: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:14, 11 July 2006

Latest revision as of 11:24, 10 July 2025

(1,000 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{short description|Visual art created to incite sexual arousal and activity}}

{{merge|Erotica}}

{{use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}

[[File:VenusWillendorf.jpg|thumb|The [[Venus of Willendorf]], a figurine with exaggerated [[sexual characteristics]]. Estimated to have been made c. 30,000 years ago]]

[[Image:Jean-Honoré Fragonard 013.jpg|thumb|right|210px|By today's standards [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard|Fragonard]]'s ''The Swing'' is rather tame, but in the [[18th century]] this painting of a courtier's mistress being in a position where a man can look up her skirts was considered highly erotic. Note 18th century women did not wear [[Knickers#Undergarments for women|knickers]] or other similar [[undergarment]]. ]]

'''Erotic art''' is a broad field of the [[visual arts]] that includes any [[Work of art|artistic work]] intended to evoke [[Sexual arousal|arousal]]. It usually depicts human [[nudity]] or [[sexual activity]], and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, films, video games, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Some of the earliest known works of art include erotic themes, which have recurred with varying prominence in different societies throughout history.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Borg |first1=Sonia |title=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |chapter=Erotic art |date=2015 |pages=349–351 |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs132|isbn=978-1-4051-9006-0 }}</ref> However, it has also been widely considered taboo, with either social norms or laws restricting its creation, distribution, and possession. This is particularly the case when it is deemed [[Pornography|pornographic]], [[Immorality|immoral]], or [[Obscenity|obscene]].

'''Erotic art''' covers any [[Work (fine arts)|artistic work]] including [[painting]]s, [[sculpture]]s, [[photography|photographs]], [[music|music]] and [[writing]]s that is intended to evoke [[erotic]] arousal or that depicts scenes of [[human sexuality|love-making]].

==Definition==

{{further|Erotic literature}}

Some believe defining [[eroticism]] may be difficult since perceptions of what is erotic fluctuate. For example, a voluptuous nude painting by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] could have been considered erotic or [[pornographic]] when it was created for a private patron in the 17th century. Similarly in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]], [[D. H. Lawrence]]'s sexually explicit novel ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' was considered [[obscene]] and unfit for publication and circulation in many nations thirty years after it was completed in [[1928]], but may now be part of standard literary school texts in some areas. In a different context, a sculpture of a [[phallus]] in Africa may be considered a traditional symbol of potency though not overtly erotic.

[[File:MET 1999 226 2 O.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Clay plaque. India. 1st century BCE.]]The definition of erotic art can be subjective because it is dependent on context, as perceptions of what is ''erotic'' and what is ''art'' vary. A sculpture of a [[phallus]] in some cultures may be considered a traditional symbol of potency rather than overtly erotic. Material that is produced to illustrate [[sex education]] may be perceived by others as inappropriately erotic. ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' defines erotic art as "art that is made with the intention to stimulate its target audience sexually, and that succeeds to some extent in doing so".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2018/entries/erotic-art/|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first=Hans|last=Maes|chapter=Erotic Art |editor-first=Edward N.|editor-last=Zalta|date=1 December 2018|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>

A distinction is often made between erotic art and [[pornography]], which also depicts scenes of sexual activity and is intended to evoke erotic arousal. Pornography is not usually considered [[fine art]]. People may draw a distinction based on the work's intent and message: erotic art would be works intended for purposes in addition to arousal, which could be appreciated as art by someone uninterested in their erotic content. [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] Justice [[Potter Stewart]] wrote in 1964 that the distinction was intuitive, saying about hard-core pornography which would not be legally protected as erotic art, "I know it when I see it".<ref>''Jacobellis v. Ohio'', 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964).</ref>

[[Image:Amphora -seduction scene- for Wiki.jpg|thumb|120px|left|Traditional [[Pederasty|pederastic]] courtship scene on a 5th c. [[Athenian]] black-figure [[amphora]]. [[Munich]].]]

==Difference with pornography==

A further distinction needs be made between erotic art and pornography, which also depicts scenes of love-making and is intended to evoke [[erotic]] arousal, but is by definition not fine art. However, no such objective distinction exists; the (lack of) distinction is sometimes facetiously summed up as "That which I like is erotica; that which ''you'' like is pornography."

Others, including philosophers [[Matthew Kieran]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kieran |first1=Matthew |title=Pornographic Art |journal=Philosophy and Literature |date=2001 |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=31–45 |doi=10.1353/phl.2001.0012 |s2cid=201770457 }}</ref> and Hans Maes,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maes |first1=Hans |title=Art or Porn: Clear Division or False Dilemma? |journal=Philosophy and Literature |date=2011 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=51–64 |doi=10.1353/phl.2011.0003 |s2cid=170101830 |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/31448/1/FINAL%20OUTPRINT.PDF |archive-date=16 April 2021 |access-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416083713/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/31448/1/FINAL%20OUTPRINT.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Maes, Hans. Ed. Pornographic Art and the Aesthetics of Pornography, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.{{page needed|date=February 2021}}</ref> have argued that no strict distinction can be made between erotic art and pornography.

==Ancient erotica==

=== Paleolithic =Historical==

{{further|History of erotic depictions#Early depictions|Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum}}

Among the oldest surviving examples of art are [[paleolithic]] cave paintings and carvings. Among the more common images of animals and hunting scenes, depictions of human genitalia, thought to be fertility symbols, may be found. For example, a recently discovered cave art at [[Creswell Crags]] in [[England]], thought to be over 12,000 years old, includes some symbols thought to be stylized versions of female genitalia. However we have no indication that these were made for erotic stimulation, it is far more likely that these were objects used in religious rituals. [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0818_040818_ice_age_caveart.html]

[[File:Terme di porta marina, affreschi a tema erotico nello spogliatoio, 06.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Lesbian sex scene. Wall painting. Suburban baths, Pompeii. 62-79CE]]

=== Greece ===

The earliest clearly salacious depictions of sexual behavior can be found on [[ancient Greek]] ceramics. Some of them are renowned because they contain some of the earliest known depictions of [[pederasty|same-sex erotic behavior]].

=== Pompeii ===

{{main|Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum}}

[[Image:Pompeii-wall painting.jpg|thumb|right|250px|An erotic wall painting from [[Pompeii]]. Upper-class [[Ancient Rome|Roman]]s used to [[Thermae|bathe daily]]. Lovers could therefore enjoy each other’s clean bodies as we do.]]

{{multiple image

Another famous example comes from the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] town of [[Pompeii]] which was simultaneously destroyed and preserved by the eruption of [[Mount Vesuvius|Vesuvius]] in AD [[79]]. Several of the houses excavated had rooms with detailed and [[sexually explicit]] [[mural]]s.

| align = right

| direction = vertical

| total_width = 150

| image_style = border:none;

| image1 = Cerámica Gabinetto segreto Nápoles.JPG

| alt1 =

| caption1 =

| image2 = Erotic scene MAN Napoli Inv27670.jpg

| alt2 =

| caption2 = Anal sex between two males. The figure on the left is playing with a hoop. Amphora. Etruscan. 5th century BCE

}}

[[File:Men engaging in anal sex, Safavid painting, 1660.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Anal sex between two males. Watercolor on paper. Around 1880-1926]]

[[Image:Kajuraho homoerotic sculpture - India - Danielou - auparashtika.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Hermit [[monk]] performing [[auparashtika]] on a princely visitor. Temple of Chhapri, Central India, 12th century CE. Khajuraho]]

Among the oldest surviving examples of erotic depictions are [[Paleolithic]] cave paintings and carvings, but many cultures have created erotic art. Artifacts have been discovered from ancient Mesopotamia depicting explicit heterosexual sex.<ref name="BlackGreen1992">{{cite book|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy|first2=Anthony|last2=Green|title=Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05LXAAAAMAAJ&q=Inana|publisher=The British Museum Press|year=1992|isbn=978-0-7141-1705-8|pages=150–152}}</ref><ref name="NemetNejat">{{cite book|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|date=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|___location=Santa Barbara, California|publisher=Greenwood|isbn=978-0313294976|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/137 137]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/137}}</ref> Glyptic art from the [[Sumer]]ian [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic Period]] frequently shows scenes of frontal sex in the [[missionary position]].<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> In Mesopotamian [[Ex-voto|votive plaques]] from the early second millennium BC, the man is usually shown entering the woman from behind while she bends over, drinking [[beer]] through a straw.<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> [[Assyria|Middle Assyrian]] lead votive [[figurine]]s often represent the man standing and penetrating the woman as she rests on top of an altar.<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/>

=== Kama Sutra ===

The [[Kama Sutra]] is a famous sex manual written in [[India]]. It is still used today and shows many positions and techniques to enhance the enjoyment of the intercourse.

[[File:Cup - Terracotta - 1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|This image has been given the description of a "...courting couple at the symposium"<ref name="2015 Thesis">{{cite thesis |author=Jared Alan Johnson |date=2015 |title="The Greek Youthening: Assessing the Iconographic Changes within Courtship during the Late Archaic Period." |url=https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3334 |degree=Master's |publisher=University of Tennessee |access-date=5 May 2024 |archive-date=4 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504232912/https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3334/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and a "Symposium scene with youths.".<ref name="2015 Thesis"/> Interior of an Attic cup. Artist; Painter from Colmar. Around 500 - 450 BCE. Louvre Museum]]

==Modern erotica==

Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of [[Hieros gamos|ritual sex]],<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> but they are more likely to be associated with the cult of [[Inanna]], the goddess of sex and prostitution.<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> Many sexually explicit images were found in the temple of Inanna at [[Assur]],<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> which also contained models of male and female sexual organs,<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> including stone [[phallus|phalli]], which may have been worn around the neck as an amulet or used to decorate [[Cult image|cult statues]],<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/> and clay models of the female [[vulva]].<ref name="BlackGreen1992"/>

In Europe, starting with the [[Renaissance]], there was a tradition of producing erotica for the amusement of the aristocracy. In the early 16th century, the text ''[[I Modi]]'' was an [[woodcut]] album created by the designer [[Giulio Romano]], the engraver [[Marcantonio Raimondi]] and the poet [[Pietro Aretino]]. In 1601 [[Michelangelo Merisi|Caravaggio]] painted the "Love Triumphant," for the collection of the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani. The latter is reputed to have kept it hidden behind a curtain to show only to his friends, as it was seen as a blatant celebration of [[sodomy]]. The tradition is continued by other, more modern painters, such as [[Fragonard]], [[Courbet]], [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]], [[Balthus]], [[Picasso]], [[Degas]], [[Toulouse-Lautrec]], [[Egon Schiele]], who served time in jail and had several works destroyed by the authorities for offending turn-of-the-century Austrian mores with his depiction of nude young girls, and so on.

[[File:Warren_Cup_-_lovers_front.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Side A of the Warren Cup]]

However, the Europeans pale before the great erotic artists of the east. Unencumbered by [[Christian]] dogma, [[Japan]], [[China]], [[India]], [[Persian Empire|Persia]] and other lands produced copious quantities of art celebrating the human faculty of love. The works depict love between men and women as well as same-sex love. In Japan, the erotic art found its greatest flowering in the medium of the [[woodblock]] print.

Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art,<ref name="Gay1993">{{cite book|last1=Robins|first1=Gay|title=Women in Ancient Egypt|date=1993|publisher=Harvard University Press|___location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-674-95469-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/womeninancienteg00robi/page/189 189]–190|url=https://archive.org/details/womeninancienteg00robi|url-access=registration|quote=Turin erotic papyrus.}}</ref> but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti.<ref name="Gay1993"/> The [[Turin Erotic Papyrus]] (Papyrus 55001) is an {{convert|8.5|ft|m}} by {{convert|10|in|cm}} Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at [[Deir el-Medina]],<ref name="Gay1993"/><ref name=oconnor2001>{{cite web|last=O'Connor|first=David|title=Eros in Egypt|url=http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/eros_in_egypt.htm|website=Archaeology Odyssey|date=September–October 2001|access-date=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130213032/http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/eros_in_egypt.htm|archive-date=30 January 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> the last two-thirds of which consist of a series of twelve [[Vignette (literature)|vignette]]s showing men and women in various [[sexual position]]s.<ref name=oconnor2001/> The men in the illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia<ref name=schmidt2000>{{cite book|last1=Schmidt|first1=Robert A.|last2=Voss|first2=Barbara L.|date=2000|title=Archaeologies of Sexuality|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSBVQpifqhkC&q=%22Turin+Papyrus%22&pg=PA254|___location=Abingdon-on-Thames, England|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-22366-9|page=254}}</ref> and do not conform to Egyptian standards of [[physical attractiveness]].<ref name="Gay1993"/><ref name=schmidt2000/> The women are [[nubile]],<ref name="Gay1993"/><ref name=schmidt2000/> and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic [[iconography]], such as [[convolvulus]] leaves. In some scenes, they hold items traditionally associated with [[Hathor]], the goddess of love, such as [[lotus flower]]s, monkeys, and sacred instruments called [[sistra]].<ref name="Gay1993"/><ref name=schmidt2000/> The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BC)<ref name=oconnor2001/> and its high artistic quality indicates that was produced for a wealthy audience.<ref name=oconnor2001/> No other similar scrolls have been discovered.<ref name="Gay1993"/>

[[File:Fenben (sketch copy) - Erotic image - a.jpg|thumb|right|It is thought that this image is a sketch of a painting. The painting is also thought to have been created in the pre-Song period. Prior to 960 CE. This sketch is thought to have been created in the early to mid 19th century.]]

[[Image:Shigenobu print - Family values.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Double page print from an illustrated [[shunga]] (春画) book by [[Yanagawa Shigenobu]] (1787-1832), a pupil of [[Hokusai]]. Size: chubon; Colored ink on paper; ca.1820; Private collection]]

[[File:Fellatiomoche.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ceramic vessel. Moche, Peru. <br/> Larco Museum, Lima. 300 CE]]

The ancient [[Greeks]] painted sexual scenes on their ceramics, many of them famous for being some of the earliest depictions of same-sex relations and [[pederasty]], and there are many sexually explicit paintings on the walls of ruined Roman buildings in [[Pompeii]]. The Moche of [[Peru]] are another ancient people who sculpted explicit scenes of sex into their pottery.<ref>Chambers, M., Leslie, J. & Butts, S. (2005) ''Pornography: the Secret History of Civilization'' [DVD], Koch Vision.</ref> There is an entire gallery devoted to pre-Columbian erotic ceramics ([[Moche culture]]) in [[Lima]] at the [[Larco Museum]]. Edward Perry Warren adapted a love for Greek Art during college and collected Greek erotic art pieces that often represented gay sexual relationships, such as the [[Warren Cup]], a Greco-Roman drinking cup which features scenes of anal sex between males. Many of Warren's eclectic pieces collected over the years are in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Potvin |first1=John |title=Askesis as Aesthetic Home: Edward Perry Warren, Lewes House, and the Ideal of Greek Love |journal=Home Cultures |date=March 2011 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=71–89 |doi=10.2752/175174211X12863597046695 |s2cid=162204319 }}</ref>

[[File:In borst bijtende man De Adonis plant (serietitel) Fukujuso (serietitel), RP-P-2008-5.jpg|thumb|253x253px|Shunga print. Hokusai. Japan. 1815–1823.]]

Caliph [[Al-Walid II]], who ruled the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] in the 8th century, was a great patron of erotic art. Among the depictions of the [[Qusayr Amra]], which were built by him, is the abundance of naked females and love scenes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Archaeology of a Byzantine City - Link IV: Qusayr 'Amra |url=https://www.bijleveldbooks.nl/ResearchSeminar/link-iv-qusayr--amra.html |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=www.bijleveldbooks.nl |archive-date=3 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203153105/https://www.bijleveldbooks.nl/ResearchSeminar/link-iv-qusayr--amra.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fowden |first=Garth |url=http://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520236653.001.0001/upso-9780520236653 |title=Qusayr AmraArt and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria |date=2004-09-20 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-23665-3 |doi=10.1525/california/9780520236653.003.0002 |archive-date=11 December 2021 |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211160905/https://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520236653.001.0001/upso-9780520236653 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The style is known as [[shunga]] (春画 pictures of spring), with some of its greatest practitioners ([[Harunobu]], [[Utamaro]], etc.) producing large numbers of works. Painted hand scrolls were also very popular. The Chinese tradition of the erotic is extensive, with remarkable examples of the art dating back as far as the [[Yuan period]] (元)(1280-1367).[[Robert van Gulik]] reproduced a fine collection of 24 erotic paintings made in [[Ming dynasty]] in his book "Erotic Colour Prints of The Ming Period". Chinese sexologist [[Liu Dalin]] also reproduced a number of Chinese erotic paintings in his book "Pictorial History

of Erotica in China".

There is a long tradition of erotic art in Eastern cultures. In Japan, for example, [[shunga]] appeared in the 13th century and continued to grow in popularity until the late 19th century when photography was invented.<ref name="shunga">{{cite web| title = Shunga| publisher = Japanese art net and architecture users system| year = 2001| url = http://www.aisf.or.jp/%7Ejaanus/deta/s/shunga.htm| access-date = 2006-08-23| archive-date = 7 May 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200507214838/http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/s/shunga.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> In Japan during the Edo period (1600–1869), Shunga, translated to "spring pictures", was a series of sexually explicit paintings created with ink or woodblock works that became printed onto paper scrolls as an introduction to sexual education. Shunga, embraced by individuals as part of the Shinto religion, focused on liberating the innate sexual beings that are within all humans, including women and homosexual sexuality. Couples engaging in sexual acts were shown laughing and enjoying the sexual encounter with their partner; this focused on the positivity of sex.

Today erotic artists thrive though the genre is still not as accepted as the more standard genres of art such as portraiture and landscape. We can thank the "[[Sexual Revolution]]" for reducing the limitations imposed on artists through censorship. Plus during the last few centuries society has broadened its view of what can be considered as art; several new styles developed during the 1800s such as [[Impressionism]] and [[Realism]]. This has given artists a wider spectrum to work with. We still have the traditionalist such as the erotic surrealist [[Anthony Christian]] and his students who use the same techniques that have been tried and tested by artists since the [[Renaissance]], but we also have more contemporary artists such Marci McDonald's abstract work, and the bizarre drawings of [[Julian Murphy]] that clearly show the influences modern culture has had on Erotic Art.

Around 1700, shunga was met with opposition and banned in Japan, but the circulation of this prominent Erotic Art continued. Shunga could be found in local libraries and homes of many Japanese citizens.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-what-is-shunga|title=What is Shunga?|date=September 24, 2013|website=Artsy}}</ref> Similarly, the erotic art of [[China]] (known as [[Chungongtu]]) reached its popular peak during the latter part of the [[Ming dynasty]].<ref>Bertholet, L. C. P. (1997) "Dreams of Spring: Erotic Art in China", in: ''Bertholet Collection'', Pepin Press (October, 1997) {{ISBN|90-5496-039-6}}.</ref> In India, the famous ''[[Kama Sutra]]'' is an ancient sex manual that is still popularly read throughout the world.<ref>Daniélou, A., trans. (1993) ''[[iarchive:completekamasutr00vats|The Complete Kama Sutra: the first unabridged modern translation]]'', Inner Traditions. {{ISBN|0-89281-525-6}}.{{page needed|date=February 2021}}</ref>

Technology has also had its role to play in the evolution of Erotic Art. The most obvious example of this would be the invention of photography. Victorian erotic photographers preferred to stay anonymous as sexual imagery was still considered indecent, but today they are free to operate openly and combined with the recent popularity of the internet there is now a wide range of work available. It should also be made clear that Erotic Photography is not to be confused with Pornography though the line between the two is not so much thin as it is blurred, since it's really down to personal opinion of what is considered "indecent" and what is artistic.

In Europe, starting with the [[Renaissance]], there was a tradition of producing [[erotica]] for the amusement of the aristocracy. ''[[I Modi]]'' was an erotic book with engravings of sexual scenes by [[Marcantonio Raimondi]] that were based on designs by [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]]. ''I Modi'' was thought to be created in around 1524 to 1527.

In 1601, [[Michelangelo Merisi|Caravaggio]] painted the [[Amor Vincit Omnia (Caravaggio)|''Amor Vincit Omnia'']] for the collection of the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani.

An erotic cabinet, ordered by [[Catherine the Great]], seems to have been adjacent to her suite of rooms in the [[Gatchina Palace]]. The furniture was eccentric, with tables that had large penises for legs. Penises and vaginas were carved on the furniture and the walls were covered in erotic art. The rooms and the furniture were seen in 1941 by two Wehrmacht-officers but they seem to have vanished since then.<ref>Igorʹ Semenovich Kon and James Riordan, ''Sex and Russian Society'' page 18.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4512/Cultuur/archief/article/detail/1775415/2003/12/06/Het-Geheim-van-Catherina-de-Grote.dhtml|title=Het Geheim van Catherina de Grote|newspaper=Trouw|author=Peter Dekkers|date=6 December 2003|trans-title=The Secret of Catherine the Great|language=nl|archive-date=14 July 2014|access-date=8 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714132056/http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4512/Cultuur/archief/article/detail/1775415/2003/12/06/Het-Geheim-van-Catherina-de-Grote.dhtml|url-status=live}}</ref> A documentary by Peter Woditsch suggests that the cabinet was in the [[Peterhof Palace]] and not in Gatchina.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Secret of Catherine the Great|url=http://www.deproductie.nl/en/films/het-geheim-van-catherina-de-grote/|last=Woditsch|first=Peter|website=De Productie|access-date=8 July 2014|archive-date=13 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913184105/http://www.deproductie.nl/en/films/het-geheim-van-catherina-de-grote/|url-status=dead}} Includes trailer of the documentary by Peter Woditsch.</ref>

The tradition was continued by other, more modern painters, such as [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard|Fragonard]], [[Gustave Courbet|Courbet]], [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]], [[Balthus]], [[Picasso]], [[Edgar Degas]], [[Toulouse-Lautrec]] and [[Egon Schiele]]. Schiele served time in jail and had several works destroyed by the authorities for offending contemporary mores with his depictions of nude girls.

By the 20th century, photography became the most common medium for erotic art. Publishers like [[Taschen]] mass-produced erotic illustrations and [[erotic photography]].

== 20th century onwards ==

Many erotic artists worked in the 1910s. Much of the genre is still not as well accepted as the more standard genres of art such as portraiture and landscape. Erotic depictions in art went through a fundamental repositioning over the course of the 20th century. Early 20th century movements in art such as [[cubism]], [[futurism]], and [[German Expressionism|German expressionism]] explored the erotic through manipulating the nude to explore multiple viewpoints, colour experimentation, and the simplification of the figure into geometrical components.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nude : art from the Tate collection|last=Chambers, Emma|others=Paton, Justin,, Art Gallery of New South Wales|year=2016|isbn=9781741741278|___location=Sydney, N.S.W.|page=81|oclc=957155505}}</ref>

In the mid 20th century, [[Realism (arts)|realism]] and [[surrealism]] offered new modes of representation of the nude. For surrealist artists, the erotic became a way of exploring ideas of fantasy, the [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] and the dream state.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Nude : art from the Tate collection|last=Chambers, Emma|others=Paton, Justin,, Art Gallery of New South Wales|year=2016|isbn=9781741741278|___location=Sydney, N.S.W.|pages=161|oclc=957155505}}</ref> Artist's such as [[Paul Delvaux]], [[Giorgio de Chirico]] and [[Max Ernst]] are well-known surrealist artist's that dealt with the erotic directly. In the aftermath of the [[First World War]], a shift away from abstracted human figures of the 1920s and 1930s towards realism took place. Artists such as British artist [[Stanley Spencer]] led this re-appropriated approach to the human figure in Britain, with naked self-portraits of himself and his second wife in erotic settings This is explicitly evident in his work ''Double nude portrait,'' 1937.<ref name=":0" />

The naked portrait was arguably becoming a category of erotic art that was dominating the 20th century, just as the academic nude had dominated the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Erotic art today|last=Kahmen, Volker, 1939-|date=1972|publisher=New York Graphic Society|isbn=978-0821204306|___location=Greenwich, Conn.|pages=11|oclc=428072}}</ref> Critical writings on the 'nude' and in particular the female 'nude', meant fundamental shifts in how depictions of the nude and the portrayal of sexuality were being considered. Seminal texts such as British Art historian [[Kenneth Clark]]'s ''The nude: a study of ideal art'' in 1956 and Art Critic [[John Berger]] in 1972 in his book ''Ways of Seeing,'' were re-examining the notion of the naked and the nude within art. This period in art was defined by an acute engagement with the political. It marked a historical moment that stressed the importance of the [[Sexual revolution in 1960s United States|sexual revolution]] upon art.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Nude : art from the Tate collection|last=Chambers, Emma|others=Paton, Justin,, Art Gallery of New South Wales|year=2016|isbn=9781741741278|___location=Sydney, N.S.W.|pages=15|oclc=957155505}}</ref>

The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social and political change across the United States and Europe. Movements included the fight for equality for women with a focus on sexuality, reproductive rights, the family, and the workplace. Artists and historians began to investigate how images in Western art and the media, were often produced within a male narrative and particularly how it perpetuated idealisations of the female subject.<ref name=":1" /> The questioning and interrogation of the overarching [[male gaze]] within the historical art narrative, manifested in both critical writing and artistic practice, came to define much of the mid to late 20th century art and erotic art.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Semmel|first1=Joan|last2=Kingsley|first2=April|date=1980|title=Sexual Imagery in Women's Art|journal=Woman's Art Journal|volume=1|issue=1|pages=1–6|doi=10.2307/1358010|jstor=1358010}}</ref> American Art Historian [[Carol Duncan]] summarises the male gaze and its relationship to erotic art, writing "More than any other theme, the nude could demonstrate that art originates in and is sustained by male erotic energy. This is why many 'seminal' works of the period are nudes."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Feminism and art history : questioning the litany|editor=Broude, Norma | editor-link=Norma Broude | editor2=Garrard, Mary D.|editor2-link=Mary Garrard |year=1982|isbn=9780429500534|___location=New York|pages=306|oclc=1028731181}}</ref> Artists such as [[Sylvia Sleigh]] is an example of this reversal of the male gaze as her work depicts male sitters presented in traditional erotic reclining poses that usually were reserved for the female nude as part of the '[[odalisque]]' tradition.<ref name=":0" />

The rise of [[feminism]], the sexual revolution and [[conceptual art]] in the mid 20th century meant that the interaction between the image and audience, and the artist and audience, were beginning to be questioned and redefined, opening up new possible areas of practice. Artists began to use their own nude bodies and began to depict an alternative narrative of the erotic, through new lenses.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Erotic ambiguities : the female nude in art|last=McDonald, Helen, 1949-|date=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0203448700|___location=London|pages=3|oclc=51161504}}</ref> New media was beginning to be used to portray the nude and the erotic, with [[Performance art|performance]] and [[photography]] being used by women artists, to draw attention to issues of gender power relations and the blurred boundaries between [[pornography]] and art.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dolan |first=Jill |date=1987 |title=The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance |journal=Theatre Journal |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=156–174 |doi=10.2307/3207686 |jstor=3207686 |s2cid=55834856 }}</ref> Artists such as [[Carolee Schneemann]], and [[Hannah Wilke]] were using these new mediums to interrogate the constructs of gender roles and sexuality. Wilke's photographs, for instance, satirised the mass objectification of the female body in pornography and advertising.<ref name=":0" />

Performance art since the 1960s has flourished and is considered as a direct response and challenge to traditional types of media and was associated with the dematerialization of the artwork or object. As performance that dealt with the erotic flourished in the 1980s and 1990s both male and female artists were exploring new strategies of representation of the erotic.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/investigating-identity/the-body-in-art/|title=investigating identity|website=Museum of Modern Art}}</ref>

[[Martha Edelheit]] was a female artist known for her contributions to erotic art as a rebellious stance against typical gender roles, which excluded women artists from participating in free sexual expression. This limited women to often be the subject of many famous Erotic Art pieces which catered to men. Edelheit was criticized for being a female artist who created erotic artwork during a time where men were main contributors in this art. Edelheit was a pioneer in the feminist art movement because she was a woman who created erotic art and also depicted herself in many of her works, which paved the way for women's equality in sexual expression.

Edelheit confronted the common stereotype that this art was pornographic by offering an alternative view of oneself. Her works paved the way for women to openly express sexual desires. Painting nude male subjects were uncommon in the 1970s; her Art turned the tables and allowed for women to be at the forefront of this fem expression revolution that occurred in the 70s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Middleman |first1=Rachel |title=A Feminist Avant-Garde: Martha Edelheit's 'Erotic Art' in the 1960s |journal=Konsthistorisk Tidskrift/Journal of Art History |date=3 April 2014 |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=129–147 |doi=10.1080/00233609.2014.901413 |s2cid=191577484 }}</ref>

The acceptance and popularity of erotic art has pushed the genre into mainstream pop-culture and has created many famous icons. [[Frank Frazetta]], [[Luis Royo]], [[Boris Vallejo]], [[Chris Achilleos]], and [[Clyde Caldwell]] are among the artists whose work has been widely distributed. The Guild of Erotic Artists was formed in 2002 to bring together a body of like-minded individuals whose sole purpose was to express themselves and promote the sensual art of erotica for the modern age.<ref>For an overview, see Eberhard and Phyllis Kronhausen: ''Erotic Art.'' Carroll & Graf Publishers, [[New York City|New York]] 1993, {{ISBN|0-88184-970-7}}</ref>

Between 2010 and 2015 [[sexologist]] and [[gallerist]] Laura Henkel, curator of the [[Erotic Heritage Museum]] and the Sin City Gallery, organised 12 Inches of Sin, an exhibition focussing on art that expresses a diverse view of sexuality and challenging ideas of high and low art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/las-vegas-sexologist-art/|title=One Sexologist's Quest to Stimulate Las Vegas' Art Scene|website=The Creators Project|author=Alyssa Buffenstein|date=25 March 2016|access-date=10 July 2018|archive-date=14 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914224546/http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/las-vegas-sexologist-art|url-status=live}}</ref> The erotic continues to be explored and employed in new types of art work today and the profound developments of the 20th century still underpin much of the prevailing erotic art and artistic intent.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The body in contemporary art|last=O'Reilly|first=Sally|date=2009|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=9780500204009|___location=New York|pages=11|oclc=317919538|url=https://archive.org/details/bodyincontempora0000orei/page/11/mode/2up}}</ref>

==Legal standards==

Whether or not an instance of erotic art is [[obscene]] depends on the standards of the jurisdiction and community in which it is displayed.

[[image:L'Origine_du_monde.jpeg|thumb|right|150px|Gustave Courbet's ''[[L’Origine du monde]]'' ([[1866]]), [[Musée d'Orsay]].]]

Whether or not an instance of erotic art is [[obscene]] depends on the standards of the community in which it is displayed.

In the United States, the 1973 ruling of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in ''[[Miller v. California]]'' established a three-tiered [[Miller test|test]] to determine what was obscene—and thus not protected, versus what was merely erotic and thus protected by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]].

Delivering the opinion of the court, Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] wrote, <blockquote>

In the [[United States]], the 1973 ruling of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in [[Miller v. California]] established a three-tiered [[Miller test|test]] to determine what was obscene - and thus not protected, versus what was merely erotic and thus protected by the [[First Amendment]].

The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.<ref>''Miller v. California'', 413 U.S. 15, 24 (1973).</ref>

</blockquote>

As this is still much vaguer than other judicial tests within U.S. jurisprudence, it has not reduced the conflicts that often result, especially from the ambiguities concerning what the "contemporary community standards" are. Similar difficulties in distinguishing between erotica and obscenity have been found in other legal systems.

Delivering the opinion of the court, Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] wrote, "The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

== See also Gallery==

<gallery class="center" widths="150" heights="150" perrow="4" mode="packed">

File:Vulve stylisée.JPG|A palaeolithic [[petroglyph]] of a [[vulva]]

File:Erotic plaque depicting an intercourse between a male and a female in a missionary position. From Iraq, Old Babylonian Period, 2000-1500 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|Sex between a female and a male. Terracotta plaque. Old Babylonian Period. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul, around 2000–1500 BCE

File:Relief - earthenware - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 1.jpg|Anal sex between two males. Drinking cup. Greek; archaic period. 550-500 BCE

File:Engraved Scaraboid, Greco-Persian, 4th century B.C.jpg|Sex between a female and a male. Engraved scaraboid (gem), White chalcedony. Greco-Persian. 4th century BCE

File:Shuvalov Painter ARV 1208 41 love-making (02).jpg|[[Oinochoe by the Shuvalov Painter (Berlin F2414)|Oinochoe by the Shuvalov Painter]], around 430–420 BCE

File:2014-01-26 Symposium Tableware with erotic motif Inv. 1993.252 Altes Museum anagoria.JPG|Bell Krater. Ancient Greek. Late 5th to 4th century BCE

File:Ancient Greek Oval gem with an erotic scene.jpg|Engraving of a sexual scene on an ancient Greek gem. Late 5th to early 4th century BCE

File:Cratere con simposio bacchico detta tazza cesi o vaso torlonia, da s. cecilia in trastevere o s. francesco a ripa, poi villa cesi e poi albani, 110-90 ca ca., MT 297, 03 ninfa addormentata.jpg|A sleeping Hermaphrodite being viewed. Krater. Marble. Ancient Greek. 110 - 90BCE

File:Bottom of a clay bowl. Hermitage Museum - 2.jpg|Bottom of a clay bowl. Ancient Roman? Ancient Greek? Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

File:Stirrup Spout Bottle with Couple MET 65.266.62.jpeg|Ceramic vessel. Moche, Peru. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 300–600 CE.

File:LarcoErotique (39).jpg|Ceramic vessel. Pre-Columbian. Larco Museum, Lima.

File:LarcoErotique (41).jpg|Ceramic vessel. Pre-Columbian. Larco Museum, Lima.

File:LarcoErotique (24).jpg|Ceramic vessels. Pre-Columbian. Larco Museum, Lima.

File:LarcoErotique (23).jpg|Ceramic vessel. Pre-Columbian. Larco Museum, Lima.

File:LarcoErotique (40).jpg|Ceramic vessel. Pre-Columbian. Larco Museum, Lima.

File:2 Erotic Kama statues of Khajuraho Hindu Temple de Lakshmana Khajurâho India 2013.jpg|[[Tantra|Tantric]] carving from the [[Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho]], India

File:Meister des Mahâjanaka Jâtaka 001.jpg|Frescos. Ajanta caves, 6th–7th century CE

File:Ajanta, ceiling of Cave 1.jpg|Fresco. Ajanta caves. 6th–7th century CE

File:SheelaWiki.jpg|[[Sheela na Gig]] at Kilpeck, England, 12th century

File:Evocation de la sodomie Hôtel-de-Ville de Saint-Quentin (France).jpg|Hôtel-de-Ville de Saint-Quentin. Saint-Quentin, France. Between 1331 to 1509

File:Masturbation - sculpture Hôtel-de-Ville de Saint-Quentin.jpg|Masturbation. Hôtel-de-Ville de Saint-Quentin. Saint-Quentin, France. Between 1331 to 1509.

File:Allegory of April - Francesco del Cossa - 1.jpg|''Allegory of April''. <small>Francesco del Cossa, Ercole de’ Roberti<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iguzzini.com/projects/project-gallery/the-hall-of-the-months-at-palazzo-schifanoia/ |title=The Hall of the Months at Palazzo Schifanoia |website=iGuzzini illuminazione |access-date=1 October 2024 |archive-date=12 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240812232359/https://www.iguzzini.com/projects/project-gallery/the-hall-of-the-months-at-palazzo-schifanoia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and Gherardo di Andrea Fiorini.<ref name="Hall of the Months">{{cite web |url=https://www.artecultura.fe.it/378/il-salone-dei-mesi |title=The Hall of the Months |website=Civic Museums of Ancient Art, Ferrara |access-date=1 October 2024 |archive-date=15 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240915064120/https://www.artecultura.fe.it/378/il-salone-dei-mesi |url-status=live }}</ref> Fresco in the Schifanoia Palace, Ferrara. Around 1469</small>

File:Sculpture - Dated to around 1530 - Kranichfeld.jpg|The "Lick ass".<ref name=reference01>{{cite web | url = http://www.oberschloss-kranichfeld.de/leckarsch.html | title =The lick ass | website = oberschloss-kranichfeld.de | access-date = 7 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128023810/http://www.oberschloss-kranichfeld.de/leckarsch.html |archive-date=28 January 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Upper castle, Kranichfeld, Thuringia. Around 1530.<ref name=reference01/>

File:Carracci Jupiter et Junon.jpg|Jupiter and Juno. Jacques Joseph Coiny. 1798.

File:21 xuancunghoa (12).JPG|Spring Palace Illustration (also known as [[Chungongtu]],春宮圖). Qing dynasty. 1636–1912.

File:A man enjoying an erotic dalliance with two boys, seated on Wellcome V0047309.jpg|Chinese Erotic Art. Gouache painting. Date of creation uncertain 1800 to 1899.

File:Katsushika Hokusai - Fukujuso.jpg|[[Hokusai]], ''The Adonis Plant (Fukujusō)'', 1815

File:The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, British Museum, version 1 (cropped).jpg|Hokusai, ''[[The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife]]'', c. 1820

File:PeterJohannNepomukGeigerEroticWatercolor04.jpg|Erotic scene. Watercolour. [[Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger]]. 1840.

File:Still life of roses and fruit with concealed erotic scenes. Wellcome V0018458.jpg|<small>A painting of an erotic scene behind a painting of figs and a tomato. Summonte. 1800 to 1899?</small>

File:Still life of roses and fruit with concealed erotic scenes. Wellcome V0018457.jpg|<small>An erotic scene on the reverse side of the painting of figs and a tomato by Summonte. 1800 to 1899?</small>

File:Men engaging in anal sex, Safavid painting, 1720.jpg|Anal sex between two males. Watercolour on paper. Around 1880 - 1926

File:Édouard-Henri Avril (1).jpg|[[Édouard-Henri Avril|Paul avril]], illustration for ''[[Fanny Hill]]'', 1907

File:Erotic soldiers by Achille Devéria 09 With Napoleon Bonaparte.jpg|''Erotic soldiers'' by Achille Devéria

File:Leingarten-viktor-europasti.jpg|Hyperrealistic sculpture of lascivious princess Europa by German sculptor Georg Viktor, 2014

File:Origin-of-the-World.jpg|[[Gustave Courbet]], ''[[L'Origine du monde]]'', 1866

</gallery>

==See also==

*[[L'Origine du monde]]

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

*[[Sex in advertising]]

* [[ShungaArtistic freedom]]

* ''[[Blue Movie]]'' by [[Andy Warhol]]

*[[Sex museum|Erotic museum]]

* [[Dionysus#Iconography and depictions|Dionysism art]]

*[[Lesbianism in erotica]]

* [[Erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum]]

*[[The erotic male in photography]]

* [[Sex inErotic filmcomics]]

* [[Early eroticErotic photography]]

* [[Fantastic art]]

* [[Fetish art]]

* [[Golden Age of Porn]]

* [[Hentai]]

* [[History of erotic depictions]]

* ''[[I Modi]]''

* [[Lesbian erotica]]

* [[Nude (art)]]

* [[Pin-up model]]

* [[Pornography]]

* [[Pregnancy in art]]

* [[Sex in advertising]]

* [[Sex in film]]

* [[Sexual arousal]]

* [[Yiff]]

* ''[[Zazel: The Scent of Love|Zazel]]''

* [[Khajuraho Group of Monuments]]

{{div col end}}

==References==

== External links ==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

* [http://www.weam.com/ World Erotic Art Museum, Miami] Curator: Naomi Wilzig, Art Director: Julian Murphy, Sales and Marketing Director: Robert Harbour

* [httphttps://www.ameanettheguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/28/the-10-best-works-of-erotic-art World10 Museum ofBest Erotic Works of Art, AmsterdamThe Guardian]

* [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/erotic-art/ Erotic Art, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]

* [http://www.eroticartmuseum.de/ Hamburg Erotic Art Museum]

* [http://historia-del-arte-erotico.com/ Erótica graphical history], The nude in art history. (Spanish)

* [http://www.androphile.org/preview/Museum/museum.htm Androphile Project - Multi-cultural collection of ancient homoerotic art]

* [https://shungagallery.com/home/ Erotic Art – Shunga Gallery - Artistic and Intellectual Presentations].

* [http://www.museodarteerotica.it/ Museo D'Arte Erotica of Venice]

* [http://honesterotica.com/home Honesterotica.com], Erotic illustration from late Victorian to the present day.

{{Nudity}}

[[Category:Erotica]]

{{Pornography}}

[[Category:Art genres]]

{{Sexual revolution}}

{{Portal bar|Art|Human sexuality|Erotica and pornography}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erotic Art}}

[[pl:Sztuka erotyczna]]

[[Category:Erotic art| ]]

[[Category:Concepts in aesthetics]]

[[Category:Erotica|Art]]

[[Category:Pornography]]