Homo Art

by Gilles Néret

From phallic statues and racy antique urns to homoerotic etchings and orgiastic paintings, the pieces portrayed in this eclectic collection of images pay homage to men and men on men via a very special voyage through the history of art.

Genres: Art, Queer, Gay, LGBT, Nonfiction, Erotica

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Gilles Néret (1933 - August 3, 2005) was a French art critic and historian, journalist and curator. He wrote extensively on the history of erotica.

He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L’Oeil and Connaissance des Arts and received the Elie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. Since 1992, Néret was an editor for Taschen, for which he has written catalogues raisonnés of the works of Klimt and others, as well as the author of Erotica Universalis.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The short essay at the start as an introduction to the books content discusses the fact that homosexual relationships were acceptable in the Ancient Greek and Roman Empires. Before questioning the need for scandalous homosexual artwork in the modern day as homosexual relationships become more accepted around the world. However, there does remain a need for such artwork as many countries still have outdated attitudes and laws against homosexuals. So, I disagree that the arts have lost their creative impetus. That said the featured homo art is varied and on the whole interesting, exotic, erotic and masculine. There remains a large time gap in the featured art, from ancient Rome to the 20th century. Presumably because of the sparcity of such themed art from this period.

[Gerald Sessions · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small, three page intro in English, which was in repeated in German and French
So for the most part, a picture book and for the most part each illustration was given a title a date and where it could be located in what museum
Illustrations were from templates , wood cuts,play bills works of art statues pottery
Book was divided in categories- The King Phallus, GreekEros, Ave Caesar,
Love that Dares to say its name
The book basically says as the game is died away, so did the art

[DimTou · Rating 3 out of 5]

It needs more historical details and should be bigger

[Mati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being good and art aware girl I went to my friend's place who share passion for art and instead of idle chitchat I went straight (i love to use this world in this review) to the library and had very good time there.
The book shows various pictures of homoerotic art from the ancient times to Tom of Finland. The collection was very carefully picked and there are some witty words about the nature of the book and the selection of the pictures. There are many classical pieces, which are pointed towards love between men. Donatello or Caravaggio did not hide anything and showing everything, not in the manner of art of Tom of Finland but still proving that such art can flourish everywhere. Speaking about classical Greek period would be bringing wood to the forest. Simply go and buy something refreshing and deliciously sinful.

[Fawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

really nice, if you've ever wanted a pocket-sized compendium of nood menz.

[Sean Gianni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had some interesting facts in the intro, the only thing I wished was that the book and collection were bigger