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Born: 1872
Died: 1898
Summary of Aubrey Beardsley
Despite its brief duration, Aubrey Beardsley’s creative career had a significant effect. Beardsley became one of the most controversial painters of his day during the seven years he was able to sketch and write before he passed away from illness. The artist’s strange sense of humour and preoccupation with the grotesque and forbidden combined with the linear beauty of his works captivated and repulsed his Victorian audience at the same time. Art Nouveau, Decadence, Symbolism, and Aestheticism may all be seen in his drawings. The use of block prints by Beardsley made it possible for his work to be readily copied and disseminated across the art world. Beardsley rapidly rose to prominence as a draughtsman because of the diabolical beauty of his work and the overwhelming presence of it in English publishing companies.
Beardsley’s pictures did more than just illustrate the storey; they fiercely critiqued Victorian ideas about sexuality, beauty, gender roles, and commerce.
After Beardsley’s “The Art of the Hoarding” (1894) essay and poster art, the public’s perception of art and advertising was forever altered. The two, in the artist’s opinion, were not incompatible. His theatre posters put his theory into practice and influenced poster design throughout Europe and the United States.
Beardsley used elements from a variety of creative traditions in his work while also making changes to fit his needs and style. Using decay, death, and eroticism to shock viewers out of their complacency, he used Decadent themes in his work, while his delicately interlacing forms and sinuous arabesque lines make his work important in identifying the visual transition from the Aesthetic movement to the modern Art Nouveau style.
Beardsley was a poet and author in addition to an illustrator. His later writings were just as opulent as his artworks, especially his short stories. With Under the Hill, an unfinished romantic tale about Venus and Tannhäuser, Beardsley produced both the text and the accompanying pictures.
Biography of Aubrey Beardsley
Childhood
Aubrey From an early age, Vincent Beardsley was a gifted artist and musician. Beardsley was born into poverty because his father chose to waste his fortune rather than learn a profession. His inventiveness, however, allowed him to avoid total oblivion. His elder sister Mabel (who would go on to be an actress) and he performed musical duets in front of an audience when they were 12 and 13. Known as “The Valiant,” Beardsley’s first poem, and a series of drawings titled “The Jubilee Cricket Analysis” were published in the school journal Past and Present when he was only 14 years old.
Beardsley knew from an early age that his time on earth was limited and unpredictable. He got TB at the age of seven, and the illness was dubbed “consumption” because patients seemed to be wasting away. Because of his weakened health as a child, Beardsley was often confined to his bed and unable to attend a school or participate in extracurricular activities with his classmates. Self-portrait in Bed was unquestionably inspired by the artist’s early experience with this illness (1894). This pen-and-ink picture shows a tiny kid being almost swallowed up by the huge bed that he is occupying. “By the gods not all monsters are in Africa.” says an inscription in French at the upper left of the painting. Both his lengthy battle with TB and his penchant for the bizarre and macabre are referenced in this statement.
After graduating from high school, Beardsley worked for a short time as a clerk at an insurance office, all the while building up a portfolio of drawings influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites. The year was 1891, and Beardsley was 19 years old when he went to Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ workshop with his sister. Burne-Jones was intrigued by Mabel’s stunning red hair even though the siblings were originally refused admission. Beardsley gradually gained the confidence to present the artist with his work. Because of Burne-Jones’ admiration for Beardsley’s apparent skill and creativity, the young artist was referred to the Westminster School of Art. Frederick Brown, a painter, taught Beardsley how to paint when he was there. In the wake of his subsequent relapse, Beardsley found himself living on the precipice of early death while revelling in an unquenchable need for life.
Early Life
Not only Sir Edward Burne-Jones paid attention to Beardsley. One year after starting art school, publisher Joseph Dent offered the young artist a job to illustrate Sir Thomas Malory’s epic, “The Death of Arthur” (1893). In addition to being impressed by Beardsley’s talent, Dent thought the artist was “a strange boy” who was “not long for this world.” Over 300 drawings were created in a short period of time despite Beardsley’s seeming weakness. To get this look, I combined elements of Pre-Raphaelite art, such as classical postures and intricate compositions, with elements of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, such as ornamental patterning and flat two-dimensionality, as well as erotica.
Beardsley became well-known for his drawings for Le Morte D’Arthur, which led to his meeting with Oscar Wilde, a controversial novelist and key player in England’s Decadent and Aesthetic movements. Wilde was an outspoken opponent of restrictive Victorian sensibilities and a supporter of the Aesthetic concept of “art for art’s sake.” It was heavily inspired by Theophile Gautier’s French Decadent philosophy of art and illustrated in Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (1857). For example, in his philosophical book The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), the main character, Dorian, sells his soul in exchange for everlasting beauty and immortality, but he ends up depraved as a result of his actions. Although he recognised the novel’s personal elements, Oscar Wilde devoted his life to the arts. His hedonistic lifestyle and sexual orientation as a homosexual scandalised Victorian society.
Beardsley’s sexuality is unknown, but he sparked a flurry of controversy by being accused of homosexuality, transvestism, and having incest with his sister, among other things. In addition to his connection with Wilde, Beardsley’s careful dressing only served to fan the flames of gossip with his well ironed morning jacket, exquisite gloves, and patent leather shoes. Beardsley was nicknamed “Daubrey Wierdsley” and “Awfully Weirdly.” by Punch magazine. Although Beardsley’s friendship with Wilde began as a boon to his career, it soon soured and lost him his job as art editor of The Yellow Book, a major Decadent journal, in 1895.
Beardsley began work on the illustrations for Wilde’s Salomé in 1894, shortly after the two had met (1894). In the end, the piece reached new heights in terms of public outrage thanks to its sexually explicit and macabre themes. Many of the pictures were deemed offensive or had no connection to the storey being told. But they were so beautiful in their evil that the egotist Wilde was afraid they might eclipse his own art. However, Wilde took issue with Beardsley’s use of a Japanese style, which he felt was at odds with Salomé’s Byzantine character. The complex interlacing flower patterns seen throughout The Peacock Skirt, as well as the beautiful needlework on Salomé’s garment, were all inspired by Whistler’s Peacock Room, which Beardsley adored. As a result of Wilde’s criticism, Beardsley created humorous caricatures like Oscar Wilde at Work (1895), which depicts the author plagiarising from the Bible, Swinburne, and the French Verbs. Journalists were quick to point out Wilde’s outrageous allegation that he had “invented Aubrey Beardsley” as a retaliatory measure.
Salomé enraged Victorian society, as one would expect. “terrible in its weirdness and suggestions of horror and wickedness.” was how the Art Journal characterised Beardsley’s art. Unconcerned with his detractors, Beardsley characterised his creative, dramatic and macabre art as “inhabited with the spectres of death.” “subjects [who were] bordering on the insane and downright depraved. I’ve created a whole new universe filled with bizarre hermaphroditic creatures dressed in historical attire.”
As a graphic designer, Beardsley’s skills went beyond book drawings to include work on posters and magazines. The artist produced a poster for A Comedy of Sighs, a production at the Avenue Theatre, because of his love of theatre (1894). A new era in advertising was dawning at the moment. Ads are an inevitable part of contemporary life, and Beardsley recognised this in his article “The Art of the Hoarding” (1894). The artist had a premonition “London… adorned with billboards and, against a grey sky, a formal arabesque would be traced by sky-signs. The city has been besieged with beauty, and we will no longer be content with our artistic senses being limited to telegraph lines.”
Magazines like The Yellow Book, where Beardsley temporarily worked as the art editor, include more instances of Beardsley’s wonderfully drawn ads. H. G. Wells, William Butler Yeats, and Henry James contributed articles to the magazine’s quarterly issue. A Victorian society’s censorship of sex in art and literature was lampooned in this work of parody. The logical and irrational causes for Victorian sexual repression (such as the prevalence of syphilis) were intertwined (they thought masturbation caused physical disorders). Using Pre-Raphaelite ideas of repressed desire, Beardsley questioned Victorian morality by blurring the boundary between art and obscenity in his work for The Yellow Book.
Mid Life
Despite the press calling it “repulsive” and “insolent.” The Yellow Book sold out quickly. The name was chosen to evoke images of yellow paper-bound French decadent books that were despised by Victorian conservatives. Beardsley, who was the magazine’s art editor when it was first published, got embroiled in the great public scandal of the Oscar Wilde rent boy/libel trials in 1895, which only served to further cement their obvious connection. In the newspapers, it was claimed that Wilde was carried away with a “yellow book” under his arm after being detained for immorality and sodomy. This was a reference to Wilde’s infamous character Dorian Gray. Though most people thought it was Beardsley’s diary, the content was misconstrued by the general audience. John Lane, publisher of The Yellow Book, was forced to dismiss Beardsley after public outcry. As a result, by the age of 22, the young artist had completely dried up financially as well as professionally. Interestingly, Beardsley moved into the room at Geneux’s Private Hotel that had been mentioned in Wilde’s trial right away, possibly taking advantage of his newfound celebrity.
Beardsley didn’t stay out of work for very long. Leonard Smithers, a prominent erotica distributor, teamed up with Beardsley in 1896 to launch a competing publication, The Savoy. Author Alexander Pope’s novel The Rape of the Lock was illustrated by the same artist, thanks to Smithers Publishing (1896). Unfortunately, Beardsley’s TB reappeared that year, this time with a vengeance and accompanied by severe haemorrhaging, leaving him too sick to create. His art was stunningly beautiful and complex. The pitch-black expanses and voids vanished. Gray tonal shifts and finely detailed renderings were now the hallmarks of his work. Also, Beardsley’s new look was expliciter in terms of its sexual content. In Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (1896), for example, he depicted female sexuality, phalluses, and female masturbation during a period when women were thought not to have sexual desire.
This edition of Pope’s The Rape of the Lock has a stunning blue fabric cover with gold foil stamping. A tearful Aubrey Beardsley was overcome with emotion after viewing the painting and hearing the words, “Aubrey, I have made a very great mistake – you are a very great artist.” from James McNeill Whistler. Although Beardsley’s work for Smithers was praised by Whistler, it was considered insulting by others because of his portrayal of Lysistrata in particular. There were allegations levelled against the publisher that he had corrupted Beardsley’s morals and compromised his well-being. Beardsley, on the other hand, was not going to succumb to his illness so soon. As long as his health allowed it, Beardsley was a big fan of the party scene and exploring new places. They visited Gabriel de Lautrec in Montmartre and had a night of hashish and dance halls with the poet Ernest Dowson in 1896, for example. After the partying and drinking stopped, Beardsley had a change of heart and became a Roman Catholic. In a letter to Smithers, he pleaded with him to “by all that is holy.” burn all copies of Lysistrata and other filthy books. Smithers, on the other hand, ignored Beardsley’s requests and published A Book of Fifty Drawings, a collection of his collected work (1897).
Late Life
Beardsley spent his last years attempting to finish drawings for Madame Maupin by Theophile Gautier and Volpone by Ben Jonson. As he neared the end of his life, the artist wanted to leave behind a lasting legacy that was both beautiful and honourable. For his last project, the artist worked with Smithers to develop and write both the text and the images for his own book, entitled Under the Hill. Venus and Tannhauser first appeared in an abridged version in an edition of The Savoy magazine in 1896. Smithers didn’t publish Beardsley’s incomplete work until almost a decade after his death in 1907, when he died.
Beardsley relocated to the French Riviera in 1896 when his health began to deteriorate. Friendship letters reveal his deterioration toward an unavoidable and terrible death. I am practically weeping with annoyance,” he wrote at times. Other times, he wrote in the futile hope that “the end is less close than it appears.” At the time, he regretted dying because “such splendid things I had planned.” were yet unfulfilled. Menton, France, was the last stop for Aubrey Beardsley before he was 25. He’d live in perpetuity like Dorian Gray.
It was the Aesthetic movement that spawned the Decadent movement that helped pave the path for contemporary art. There are decorative elements from Aestheticism and Decadents in Beardsley’s art, as well as an air of melancholy and macabre wit. Beardsley had an impact on “practically every modern designer after 1900.” according to Dada painter George Grosz. Designs by the artist had a major influence on how Art Nouveau evolved. Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, and painters from the Glasgow School, such as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, were all influenced by Beardsley. In 1921, the Hollywood version of Salomé used Beardsley’s designs, which had a dramatic quality, as did the sets for the Ballets Russes designed by Leon Bakst.
Heinz Edelmann’s cartoons for the Beatles film Yellow Submarine in the 1960s used Beardsley’s work, which was often rediscovered during Art Nouveau revivals. The fact that he was a part of the collage on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper record shows how influential he was to the band. To this day, Beardsley’s art continues to astonish and terrify viewers everywhere. Last but not least, in 2007, spectators above the age of 18 were denied entry to the London Barbican because of Beardsley’s Cinesia, which depicts Myrrhina begging Lysistrata for help.
Famous Art by Aubrey Beardsley
How Sir Tristram Drank of the Love Drink
1893
This picture, created for Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, was one of several that helped convey the Pre-Raphaelites’ version of King Arthur’s tale. A tragic love storey precedes and possibly inspired the romantic narrative of Lancelot and Guinevere, as shown in the picture, which tells the storey of Tristram and Isolde. The decorative pillar divides the picture in half, allowing Beardsley to portray the pair as androgynous creatures. It’s hard to determine if the flowers in the image framing and bordering it are about to burst with fertility or portend something more ominous.
The Woman in the Moon, Frontispiece for Salomé
1894
Salomé, Oscar Wilde’s novel based on his own play, commissioned this piece of art. Although inspired by the biblical femme fatale who slew John the Baptist, Oscar Wilde’s Salomé was denounced as heretical when it was first published. This outrage was taken to a new level by Beardsley’s drawings, which poked fun not just at oppressive Victorian society but also at Wilde’s haughty persona. Unclothed (Page of Herodias) stands guard in front of clothed (Narraboth) as the moon rises in the distance. Unrequited love befalls both Salomé characters in Wilde’s version. The Page has feelings for both Salomé and Narraboth. Atop Narraboth’ robe, the Page makes an effort to block the moon’s glare from falling on them. According to Wilde’s writing, humans’ emotions may be affected by the mystical power of the moon. Beardsley plays with this concept by portraying Oscar Wilde, the author, as the woman in the Moon, who in fact controls his characters in a literal way. With a cartoon moon face that looks chubby and saggy, Beardsley was making fun of Oscar Wilde and his arrogance.
The Peacock Skirt
1893
In this picture, Beardsley depicts the heroine draped in a long, flowing robe embroidered with patterns evocative of peacock feathers for Oscar Wilde’s Salomé (1894). While Salomé stalks the young man who is smitten with her, a peacock hovers to the left, as if poised to entice and devour him. The man’s legs hidden under his robe are effeminately drawn, belying his gender. Soldiers debate the ruckus coming from a banquet hall as a young guy praises Salomé’s attractiveness, as seen in this illustration.
The Black Cat
1894
This artwork by Beardsley was created to go along with a storey by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name. Symbolist and Decadents painters were drawn to ghastly, gothic stories because of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s The Black Cat (1893) depicts a cat attacking its owner after being brutally abused by the narrator. Its owner, enraged, gouges out its eye and hangs his pet as a result. While looking for his intended target, the narrator gets enraged and inadvertently murders his wife when he comes upon a similar-looking cat, as shown above by Beardsley. While trying to hide his wife, he unwittingly traps the cat in the basement wall. Only after hearing the cat, sitting on top of the deceased’s head, cry from behind a brick wall did the police discover his wife’s corpse. The gloomy subject matter is well complemented by Beardsley’s stunningly condensed design. The beautiful creature is distinguished from the darkness by thin, sinuous lines. With the sharp claw and accusatory eye of the cat, Beardsley emphasises the narrator’s abusive behaviour. As Poe put it, the black cat was “an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off – incumbent eternally upon my heart!” Poe
Death of Pierrot – The Savoy
1896
Beardsley portrays “strange hermaphroditic characters wandering about in Pierrot costume.” in this picture of Pierrot the Clown’s deathbed for The Savoy magazine in London. Typical of the Decadent philosophy that life is a show, the artist here creates a dramatic ambience to reflect this. The lively, tip-toeing figures of Arlecchino, Pantaleone, Il Dottore, and Columbina pay a visit to Pierrot’s death-white visage as he lies in bed, his clothing thrown aside on a nearby chair. With their elaborate carnival costumes, exaggerated poses, and shushing gestures, these last individuals try to involve the spectator, lending a comic aspect to an otherwise sombre setting.
Venus at her Toilette
1896
In Beardsley’s own work, Under the Hill (1896), an erotic book based on Venus and Tannhauser’s tale, this image appears as a part. Under the Hill was to be released as a book by The Savoy but Beardsley never completed it. It was first published in sections by The Savoy. When a woman does her toilette in secret before emerging in public, she is primping herself to look her best. Eroticism and sensuality rule supreme at Venus’s court. Beardsley’s artwork, which is jam-packed with hedonistic extravagances, pairs well with the author’s frantic, almost hysterical prose.
The Abbe
1896
Tones between black and white are subtly varied in The Abbe, much like Dürer engravings that Beardsley loved, so that pure white parts sparkle and jet black areas fade. The centre figure looks deformed, similar to those in the artist’s early works, and was originally named Abbe Aubrey. A little head perches atop a pile of fluttering stage costumes. There seems to be a flora around the person, including a pixy or fairy in the upper left corner.
BULLET POINTED (SUMMARISED)
Best for Students and a Huge Time Saver
- Despite its brief duration, Aubrey Beardsley’s creative career had a significant effect.
- Beardsley became one of the most controversial painters of his day during the seven years he was able to sketch and write before he passed away from illness.
- The artist’s strange sense of humour and preoccupation with the grotesque and forbidden combined with the linear beauty of his works captivated and repulsed his Victorian audience at the same time.
- Art Nouveau, Decadence, Symbolism, and Aestheticism may all be seen in his drawings.
- The use of block prints by Beardsley made it possible for his work to be readily copied and disseminated across the art world.
- Beardsley rapidly rose to prominence as a draughtsman because to the diabolical beauty of his work and the overwhelming presence of it in English publishing companies.
- Beardsley’s pictures did more than just illustrate the storey; they fiercely critiqued Victorian ideas about sexuality, beauty, gender roles, and commerce.
- After Beardsley’s “The Art of the Hoarding” (1894) essay and poster art, the public’s perception of art and advertising was forever altered.
- The two, in the artist’s opinion, were not incompatible.
- His theatre posters put his theory into practice and influenced poster design throughout Europe and the United States.
- Beardsley used elements from a variety of creative traditions into his work while also making changes to fit his needs and style.
- Using decay, death, and eroticism to shock viewers out of their complacency, he used Decadent themes in his work, while his delicately interlacing forms and sinuous arabesque lines make his work important in identifying the visual transition from the Aesthetic movement to the modern Art Nouveau style.
- Beardsley was a poet and author in addition to an illustrator.
- His later writings were just as opulent as his artworks, especially his short stories.
- With Under the Hill, an unfinished romantic tale about Venus and Tannhäuser, Beardsley produced both the text and the accompanying pictures.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
