May’s erotic artist in history is Franz von Bayros (b. 1866 – d. 1924). He was an Austrian commercial artist, painter and illustrator who, at the age of 17, was accepted in to the Vienna Academy and studied under historic portrait painter Eduard von Engerth. Franz also belonged to the Decadent movement of the late 19th century and used fantastic themes in some of his erotic works.
This months erotic art history lesson isn’t about an artist, but an art book. It’s called I Modi (The Ways) and it depicts sixteen explicit sexual positions and it was done up in 1524 by engraver Marcantonio Raimondi. According to legend, he based this book on the works that painter Giulio Romano was doing as a commission for Federico II Gonzaga, who was the ruler of the Italian city Mantua during the 1500’s.  When the book was printed the church swooped in and arrested Raimondi and destroyed all copies of the I Modi. In 1527 it was reprinted, this time with sonnets written by Pietro Aretino making it the first time erotic art and literature where combined. But, just as before the church came and destroyed all copies it could find and Raimondi was once again arrested (although was able to escape).
So the other day I got to wondering, how far back does erotic art go? Which artists in history produced erotic artworks. I’m sure that this sort of stuff goes back a long way. I mean, before you could get porn on just about every device out there, if you had a hankering for erotic pictures… someone had to draw them. Until someone invented the photograph that is. I wonder how erotic works where viewed way back when. What was considered a tasteful nude and what was just plain ol’ smut. What was smut called back then?
I’m going to look in to these erotic artists during history. I want to know more about them and I’m going to share my findings here. Once a month (starting in Feb) I’ll be making a post showcasing an artist and some of their works. I’m very much looking forward to this to be honest. I think it’ll be fun to learn about this naughty passion that I have and see where it’s been though out history.
Play Asia