This collection offers a wide range of works from the Antiquity to the twentieth century. This title will deal specifically with erotic pieces. Here are the most sensual and provocative masterworks which captured the feeling of an era and those that signalled the beginning of a new one. Most of these works were not immediately recognized for their genius, and others that were at first met with great resistance. All have stood the test of time and in their own ways contribute to the dialectic on what makes a painting, sculpture or object erotic, how notions of eroticism have changed, to what degree erotic art reflects reality, and to what degree it alters it. Taken together these works illuminate the changing preoccupations and insights of our ancestors and this work enables the reader to rediscover the world heritage of erotic art.

Introduction

Ⅰ.From Prehistory and Primitive Forms to Antiquity and the Perfection of the Body

Ⅱ.The Middle Ages: A Return to Prudery

Ⅲ.The Renaissance: The Golden Age of the Body

Ⅳ.The Elegance of the Body, 1563-1810

Ⅴ.Realism and the Body, 1810-1922

Ⅵ.The Decades of Promise, 1922-1960

Ⅶ.The Revolution of the Body, 1960-2000s

Chronology

Index