Édouard-Henri Avril

~ 1849 - 1928

Édouard-Henri Avril  was a French painter and commercial artist. For his erotic art he used the pseudonym Paul Avril. Avril was born in Algiers, is father was a colonel of the gendarmerie.
Avril himself fought and was wounded in the Franco-Prussian War before starting his studies in art. He received the Legion of Honour in 1871 for injuries sustained during the war. These injuries led to his retirement from the military career at the age of 22.

His pseudonym can cause confusion with his brother. His brother was named Paul-Victor Avril. He was also an artist and worked as an engraver. From 1874 to 1878, he was at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He worked for the illustrated newsmagazine Le Monde illustré in 1882.

Having been commissioned to illustrate Théophile Gautier's novel Fortunio, he adopted the pseudonym "Paul Avril". His reputation was soon established. He received many commissions to illustrate both major authors. He also illustrated the so-called "galante literature" of the day, which is a form of erotica. Yet, his reputation as a commercial illustrator of novels was established before he began illustrating the more underground erotic literature. These books were typically sold in small editions on a subscription basis organised by collectors. Erotica of that time received very limited prints. Sometimes they were limited to only about 100 copies. These copies were often sold only within exclusive circles of collectors.

Avril's major work were the illustrations in 1906 for De Figuris Veneris: A Manual of Classical Erotica. Avril also illustrated John Cleland's Fanny Hill (also known as Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). This work was a significant and controversial publication of its time. It was the first novel to bring erotica to English literature.

For this site, I tried to focus on the artworks related to BDSM themes. I found a few dedicated to BDSM/spanking and strapon. There is a little FemDom and one darker artwork with bondage.

5 albums/18 artworks
Latest Update: August 8, 2025 -> Created page for this artist (18 artworks)

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