This is the second reference book Eugene C. Burt, PhD, has published on erotic art. His first monograph on the subject was Erotic Art: An Annotated Bibliography with Essays (Burt, 1989). The bibliography lists publications including books, chapters from anthologies, journal articles, dissertations, conference papers and unpublished manuscripts. The publications range in quality from scholarly research to popular magazines.
The topic for this reference book is the artists who produced erotic art in traditional art media: painters, sculptors, printmakers, graphic designers, and illustrators. The time period covers Ancient Greece through the twenty‐first century. The majority of artists are European and American since the emphasis is on Western art, but artists from many other countries are also included. Artists were selected for inclusion based on whether their work “unambiguously displays sexual behavior”. Only named artists are included, and the reader will recognize many famous names like Rembrandt, Picasso, and Dali. However, the majority of artists are not well known.
The Dictionary of Erotic Artists is not intended to provide a detailed biography of an artist's life. It functions more as an indexing tool to find reproductions of the artists work in publications that are listed alphabetically in the Bibliography section at the end of the book. The book's Bibliography lists monographs and periodicals, both scholarly and popular serials, and appears to be a comprehensive compilation of resources on erotic art.
Entries are arranged by an artist's birth name but many artists used pseudonyms for their erotic art works which are also listed. Each entry contains three sections: a very brief biographical summary, a Reproductions section followed by the Sources section. The biographical information includes: birth date, date of death, countries where they lived, followed by the type of artist and their major media. Their artistic education and development is mentioned followed by a summary of the work for which they are most well known (which is often not their erotic art) and their contribution to the history of erotic art. The Reproductions section can be quite lengthy depending on the importance of the artist and their creative output. It lists: title or description of artistic work, date, media, and title of publication where reproduction can be found, pagination, and if in colour. The Sources section lists specific publications that provide further research about the erotic art of the artists. Many of the publications are standard art history reference books such as Bénézit's Dictionary of Artists or the Grove Dictionary of Art.
Sexual terminology can be either scientific or salacious but the meaning can often be misconstrued. To address this problem, Burt provides a Glossary with abbreviations for terms (e.g. TV/TS – transvestite and transsexual, BBW – big, beautiful women). This is a well‐researched resource and a recommended purchase for an art library. It could also be useful addition for an academic collection that focuses on gender studies or women's studies.
