BOOK:The Art of the Erotic,Phaidon Publications

Organised chronologically, the 170 works in the survey: “The Art of the Erotic” by Phaidon Publications, have also been cleverly selected so that, on facing pages, their images frequently mirror one another in terms of composition, setting or costume… Presenting the texts, which describe and contextualise each work, separate from the images, all together at the back of the book, risks it being read primarily as a selection of titillating imagery. The images, however, are strong enough to hold their own, giving an overview of the timeless artistic preoccupation with erotica and reminding us of the observation of Edward Lucie. The works include: an Athenian cup dating from 470BC, Gustave Courbet’s “The Origin of the World” (1866) and Thomas Ruff’s “Nudes ru 05” (Nud 053) (2000). Bruce Nauman, Titian, Nan Goldin, Cecily Brown, Titian, Paul Cézanne, Picasso, Andy Warhol, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Edgar Degas, Edvard Munch, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson Pollock, Lucian Freud, Louise Bourgeois, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Cecily Brown, Anselm Kiefer, George Condo, and Anish Kapoor. With its chronological organization, “The Art of the Erotic” provides insights into human sexuality throughout the ages.-Efi Michalarou