Sex at Sotheby’s
Judging from the unabashed lots in Sotheby’s auction of erotic art, there is no sexual act — either on the hetero- or homosexual spectrum — that hasn’t already been perfected by our forebears.
The house’s first sale dedicated to representations of love and sex features over 100 works, ranging from an ancient Roman marble sculpture of two lovers engaging in intercourse to the present-day.
Erotic: Passion & Desire , Sotheby’s London
Modern painted plywood table, replica of one supposedly owned by Catherine the Great
Roman marble group of two lovers, circa 1st/2nd century AD
Helmut Newton, Autoerotic, 1999
Egon Schiele, Akt
César, Le Plat
French, carved mahogany bed, 19th century
Turkey, erotic scene, ascribed to Abdullah Bukhari, 1743
Gustav Klimt, Liegander Halbakt Nach Rechts (Half-Nude Reclining to the Right)
Pavel Tchelitchew, Bathers
Marc Quinn, Maquette for Siren (Kate Moss)
Pablo Picasso, Nu (Nude)
North India, a couple making acrobatic love on a lake, 18th century
Nobuyoshi Araki, Untitled (Hotel Rooms), 1993 – 1994
Patrick Hennessy, In the Hammam
Lucian Freud, Man Posing
Clive Barker, I Thought She Was a Natural Blonde
Osmar Schindler, Zwiegesprach (Tête à Tête)
Chinese, Qing Dynasty, 19th century
Antony Gormley, Pole II
Robert Mapplethorpe, Bow and Arrow (Lisa Lyon), 1981
Howard Chandler Christy, Nudes at the Beach
