Lesson 41

Art and Sexuality

At University I ran an Art History/Liberal Studies Course on Art and Sexuality.
(I was going to call it Querys, but was never sure how to spell that, maybe
‘Queeries’.)

Erotic art was something I was personally interested in; I hoped it wasn’t too
limited a topic and that there was enough substance there to make a seminar
series. A novel subject, but neither mainstream or everybody’s cup of tea.

During my preparation I realised that in every age whether that be Egyptian,
Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, seventeenth century to the twentieth
century, or from the art and creation myths of Egypt and Greece, and from the
role of women in art, or sexual identity, whether it be from Leonardo to
Picasso, Michelangelo to Duchamp, Artemisia Gentilischi to Jo Spence, Fragonard
to Hockney, from Caravaggio to Francis Bacon, sexuality is the central theme.

I realised that sexuality was fundamental to the history of art as it is to the
narrative of our lives. Any art history that ignores sexuality is an incomplete
art history.