Dictionary of erotic artists: painters, sculptors, printmakers, graphic designers and illustrators

351 Pages·2010·9.115 MB·English

by  Burt, Eugene C

Dictionary of
Erotic Artists
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Dictionary of
Erotic Artists
Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers,
Graphic Designers and Illustrators
E C. B
UGENE URT
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Burt, Eugene C., 1948–
Dictionary of erotic artists : painters, sculptors, printmakers, graphic
designers and illustrators / Eugene C. Burt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4874-6
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Erotic art—Dictionaries. 2. Artists—Biography—Dictionaries.
I. Title.
N8217.E6B87 2010 704.9'4280922—dc22 [B] 2010011964
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2010 Eugene C. Burt. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: (clockwise from top left) Nightmare, Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard;
The Slave Trader, Franz Bergman; Le Rirecover art, Suzanne Ballivet;
illustration by Franz von Bayros
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS
Introduction
1
Glossary and Abbreviations
7
The Erotic Artists
9
Bibliography
339
v
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I
NTRODUCTION
It has become something of a cliché to say on erotic art has been conducted and pub-
that erotic art is as old as art itself. What is lished to date. With that situation in mind,
true is that many artists throughout history the goal of theDictionary of Erotic Artists is to
have addressed in their work aspects of human stimulate the kind of research that will expand,
sexuality as an important part of the human clarify, correct, and refine our knowledge of
experience. Most of these artists are anony- the subject.
mous to us, as their names have been lost to There have been a few earlier published ef-
history—from ancient Roman fresco painters, forts to provide a reference resource on erotic
to potters of pre–Inca Peru, to sculptors of artists. The four volume Bilder-Lexikon: Lit-
medieval Indian temples. Nevertheless, the eratur und Kunst (Vienna: Kulturforschung,
names of some artists are available to us, pri- 1930; reprinted Hamburg: Kulturforschung,
marily, but not exclusively, from the Western 1961) includes a significant number of artists’
world in the last three centuries. The Dictio- names, though few whose work is explicitly
nary of Erotic Artists identifies named individ- sexual. Spread over several volumes of his cat-
uals who are thought to have made some con- alogues of erotic art, Dominic Klinger in the
tribution to the history of erotic art. 1970s provided a more extensive Kunstler-
There are literally hundreds of single- or Lexikon which provided information about
multi-volume lexicons or dictionaries of artists many obscure European artists.
that are a vital source of reference information More recently, Peter Wagner’s Lust und
for art researchers. While some attempt to be Liebe im Rokoko = Lust and Love in the Rococo
all-inclusive, most cover specific categories of Period (Delphi, 1986) provided information
artists, based on the content of their work (i.e., on 18th century painters and printmakers.
Archibald’s Dictionary of Sea Painters, 1980), Similarly, Eva Baur’s Meisterwerke der erotis-
the time or style period in which they were chen Kunst (Dumont, 1995) provides back-
active (i.e., Wood’s Dictionary of Victorian ground to European artists of the last four
Painters, 1971), the geographic area with which centuries. Much of the information those ear-
they are associated (i.e., Halsby’s Dictionary lier studies made available helped in compil-
of Scottish Artists, 1998), the art media or tech- ing this volume. In addition, a growing num-
nique they utilized (i.e., Waterhouse’s British ber of online websites attempt to provide lists
18th Century Painters in Oil and Crayon, 1991), of artists, usually focusing on specific genres,
and others. Almost all such dictionaries have such as artists specializing in flagellation or
been compiled as a result of decades, if not transvestite images.
centuries, of research by generations of schol- Any publication on erotic art brings to-
ars. In contrast, relatively little serious research gether two audiences and two vocabularies
1
Introduction 2
that rarely intersect. Sex and art each have suggestive than explicit but have played a
their own specialized terminology that is not significant role in America’s (and more recently
necessarily understood to those who have lim- the world’s) sexual history. For the most part,
ited knowledge of them. The Dictionary of portrayals of nudity alone does not qualify an
Erotic Artists has made an effort to use vocab- artist for inclusion; the deciding factor is the
ulary familiar to as wide an audience as pos- explicit display of sexual features or an em-
sible. Since sexual terminology can range from phasis on provocative poses. For centuries,
scientific to crude, it is a particularly sensitive Western artists have been trained with life
issue. An effort has been made herein to use drawing classes of nudes, the results of which
generally acceptable terms for the various sex are definitely anatomical renderings, but not
acts. For example, “oral sex” is utilized rather necessarily to be considered erotic.
than the scientific “oral-genital contact” or the Inclusion in erotic art surveys. If other re-
vernacular “blow job.” In some cases the titles searchers discussed or provided reproductions
of works of art or publication titles may in- of works by artists because they considered
clude terminology that is crude or even offen- them significant to erotic art history, they were
sive to some people, but are listed as they are included herein.
provided by the source. A glossary is provided Named artists. Only artists whose names
to help clarify the meaning of terms that have been identified are included. When pos-
might not be understood by those who are not sible, the real, full name of the artist has been
art experts or who have limited familiarity used, but in many cases only a pseudonym,
with sexual lingo. just a surname, or even just initials are known.
The artists listed herein include both the fa-
mous and the obscure. Names such as Rem-
Scope
brandt and Picasso are known to everyone and
the available information about them is in-
It is hard to imagine a more controversial
deed extensive.
topic in art history than erotica. Subject to
The vast majority of artists in this diction-
condemnation, suppression, censorship, and
ary are little known and, in many cases, virtu-
avoidance by society in general and academia
ally nothing more is known about them than
in particular, erotic art has not been the focus
a name and evidence of the existence of some
of the research it deserves. Simply defining the
of their work. The names themselves can be
topic is, of course, difficult, but necessary to
problematic as the use of pseudonyms has
determine the scope of this volume. Certain
been common among artists of erotica for cen-
principles were utilized in deciding on the in-
turies.
clusion of names for this dictionary.
Media.In this volume only painters, sculp-
Explicitness.Artists whose work unambigu- tors, printmakers, graphic designers, illustra-
ously display sexual behavior are considered tors, and the like have been included. Photog-
primary candidates for inclusion. The main raphers, cinematographers, and videographers
exceptions to this principle involve the inclu- have not been included, as they deserve their
sion of artists from the Renaissance to the 18th own similar dictionary.
century whose work may not be immediately
perceived as sexual by modern standards, yet No list can be all inclusive, especially in a
in their time pushed the envelope of accept- topic like erotica. Future research findings
ability or were criticized in their age for being should refine the list, adding more names as
too sexual. The other exception is the inclusion previously considered anonymous works have
of pin-up artists whose works may be more their artist’s name revealed, removing some
3 Introduction
names due to faulty identification, and refining erotica production. But it is the 20th and now
the facts of many artists as we learn more 21st centuries that have seen the greatest pro-
about them. liferation of artists who seek to create sexually
oriented work. In fact, the last few decades
have seen an explosion of the production and
Definition
availability of erotic art around the world.
Therefore, living artists constitute the largest
What makes an artist an erotic artist? A list portion of individuals named in this diction-
of artists who have made the production of ary. Contemporary artists include mainstream
erotic art their main oeuvre would be quite painters and sculptors, graphic and commer-
short. More common are artists like Picasso cial designers, pin-up illustrators, cartoonists,
who produced a considerable quantity of erot- comic book or graphic novel illustrators, dig-
ica; however, this formed only a small part of ital/computer artists, amateur sketchers and
his creative output. The majority of individ- painters, etc. They may specialize in only a
uals listed in this dictionary may have only limited range of sexual content (i.e. bondage,
produced a small amount of erotica, compared flagellation, lesbian, etc.) or genre (pinups,
to their total output, in some cases only a sin- anime, etc.), they may have produced erotica
gle work of art. Future research by scholars in only one period of their careers, or they may
should further refine the definition of who have made such imagery only for their own
should be considered an erotic artist. enjoyment or for a small number of friends.
The artists listed in this dictionary fall into About 10 percent of the artists are women and
a number of categories. The earliest named a considerable portion of the male artists pro-
artists are from Ancient Greece. These “vase” duce homoerotica. Although Europeans and
painters are known to us because they signed Americans form the vast majority of the names
their works or a name has been assigned to listed, artists from Asia, Australia, Latin Amer-
them by modern art historians and archaeol- ica, and Africa are included.
ogists. Renaissance to Baroque artists only on
rare occasions produced overtly sexually ex-
plicit works, but many of them pushed the Publications
envelope beyond the strictures of medieval
Christian art to further the development of Hundreds of illustrated books on erotic art
erotic art in the West. In a sense those artists have been published. Prior to the 1960s such
began the trend to the erotic which has influ- books were few and far between and were usu-
enced our own time. During the 18th century, ally released in restricted limited editions.
largely due to the Rococo era, there was an ex- Fewer still were serious scholarly texts; the out-
plosive growth in erotica, from suggestive to standing exception was the pioneering multi-
fully explicit imagery. An art historical term, volume surveys of erotic literature and art by
sujet galante, indicates the preference for im- the German sexologist Eduard Fuchs first ap-
ages of the sex lives of the upper class com- pearing in 1909. Later, it was the so-called
mon to that era. Painters, printmakers, and Sexual Revolution of the 1960s that released a
reproduction artists producing erotica were virtual floodgate of publications. Most are lit-
numerous, as were illustrators of erotic litera- tle more than picture books with reproduc-
ture. It is in this period that there is evidence tions of artworks, with any text or image cap-
of artists who fully specialized in producing tions generally of questionable validity and
erotica. That trend ripened in the 19th cen- rarely with supporting evidence. There is,
tury, when entire artistic careers were based on however, a small but growing body of schol-