David Whitley leaves his prudish side behind and visits the extraordinary World Erotic Art Museum in Miami

As a depiction of human dexterity, the painting is quite exquisite. The human pyramid features two monks holding two naked nuns aloft, working wonders with their tongues whilst a third woman, ahem, issues manual rewards. This isn’t, as you may possibly expect, an extract from a plastic covered magazine on one of the highest shelves in a petrol station. It’s a nineteenth century Italian artwork. And if there’s one thing you learn from a wander round Miami’s World Erotic Art Museum, it’s that looking at filth is by no means a modern hobby. The tremendous collection of nookie and nudity-based creative efforts comes in at over 4,000 items, spread across 20 rooms. But more importantly, they seem to spread across centuries and cultures.

Ceremonial African penis-weapons mix with Ecuadorian carvings of masturbating men from the 4^thcentury BC. Indian Kama Sutra wood carvings get as much of a look in as more up-to-date painted sex from Japan. The scenes almost uniformly feature graphic genital detail, enterprising positions and eerily emotionless faces. You’ve got the delightful contrast between a traditional Bundu circumcision ritual mask from Sierra Leone mixed in with modern art depicting a woman nonchalantly removing a string of glass beads from her... well, you can probably guess where.

Today’s culture doesn’t escape either – images from Madonna’s ‘Sex’ book are mixed in with a startling interpretation of the Golden Girls dressed in little more than devil horns, whilst I’m fairly certain that the Disney Corporation didn’t sanction the panorama scene depicting Mickey, Goofy, Snow White and co being very friendly indeed. It’s the dry, neutral descriptions that add a sense of surreality to the place. One is a “French parody” cartoon of a man “being seduced by a donkey”. As treasurable as this cornucopia of phalluses and mammaries is, the story behind it is even better. Sat in a little office to the side of the exhibits, I find Naomi Wilzig, a grandmother in her mid 70s. Believe it or not, this is her baby.

It all kicked off when Naomi’s son – who knew his mother was into antiques – asked her if she could find a conversation piece of erotic art for his apartment. He was disappointed in one she found – it wasn’t “hot” enough, apparently - but it kicked off a journey from innocence to expertise. “I discovered that dealers hide all the erotic pieces in back rooms in case someone comes in and takes offence,” Naomi tells me. “You have to go and ask for it – but anything that’s sexual, they raise the price considerably. “I got hooked on the search,” she continues. “I went from collection to obsession until there was eventually no room for both me and the art.”

She had a hell of a job trying to find somewhere to display it though. Numerous Florida cities wouldn’t have any of it, and a lot of landlords turned their noses up once they discovered what the premises would be used for. Eventually she settled in a second floor building in Miami Beach. She says: “The excitement, energy and sexuality was a good fit, and while we do get university professors bringing their students here on study trips, the majority of people who come in are just passing by. “People tend to be apprehensive about going up the stairs, though. They don’t know what they’re going to find – the public confuses erotic and pornographic.” It’s a remarkable tale from a woman from an orthodox Jewish background who, by her own admission, didn’t start looking until she was 55.

And it sure beats trudging round a gallery of 16^th century Madonna and child paintings...  

More information: weam.com