From 1956 - ‘62 I studied by copying in the National Gallery, in London. During those years I found I was repulsed by so many works of violence, from crucifixions to beheadings, disembowelments and the human body used as archery target practice. Since I was only ten years old at the beginning of that period, I found myself wondering if grownups didn't do happier things that could be recorded in paint. The more time I spent in the National Gallery the more I formed the opinion that the whole place was padded out with fairly ordinary works which for credibility hung on the backs of the few truly great ones. Those two observations made me think how wonderful it would be to have a museum in which there was nothing but the world’s greatest (non-violent) masterpieces. The germ of an idea was sewn.Many years later, from 1968 - 1988, I studied Erotic Art, through probably the largest collection in the world (in Paris,) consisting of over 1 million works of Art, from 14th C to date. I not only studied the collection, I found that I so loved the genre - it was indeed that "happier thing that grownups did!" - I wished from then on to dedicate much of the rest of my life’s work to creating such paintings as might cause the genre of Erotic Art to be accepted as completely as Still Life, Landscape or the Nude etc. I then remembered my earlier museum idea, and thought perhaps I might even create such a museum myself. However, instead of simply copying my favourite original works, as I had vaguely contemplated doing, I would “Eroticise” them. I have come to believe that the original masters approve of my taking their works a step forward; in fact doing what they themselves might well have done, had they not been in fear for their lives even for having such a thought! Each work of art is painted with the most enormous respect for the original and the master who created it. Anthony Christian.Picture : "St. Francis in Bewilderness"
