—Aubrey Beardsley
The plights of celebrated artists who died young always have a story to tell. Georges Seurat (1859–1891), Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), and Egon Schiele (1890–1918) have all left the world quite too soon with their magnificent legacies. Joined with this generation was the English illustrator and author, Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (1872-1898), who passed away at a very young age of 25 from chronic tuberculosis.
Aubrey Beardsley, 'The Peacock Skirt', plate V for Salomé by Oscar Wilde 1893 (designed), 1907 (printed), Victoria and Albert Museum,
Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Beardsley was considered a genius of his time, who composed precise line drawings in bold, black and white planes, particularly by candlelight. He contributed largely to the Art Nouveau movement and development of poster design. The artist’s major retrospective “Beardsley, a Singular Prodigy”, organized jointly with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), is showing at Mitsubishi Ichiogkan Museum Tokyo until May 11 this year. More than 200 remarkable artworks include the renowned Le Morte D’Arthur (1893), Salome (1894 ) by Oscar Wilde, Mademoiselle de Maupin (1897) by Théophile Gautier, as well as rare hand-drawn sketches, and colored posters.
Though passing away early in his life, Beardsley kept more than 1,000 works. Many of them controversially amplified subversive and obscene images. Academic supervisor Professor Joichiro Kawamura explains the artist’s rebellious spirit arising from childhood, apparently demonstrated by humorous caricatures of school teachers. Later on, some drawings conveyed sexual elements, inspired also by his great admiration for Japanese shunga (erotic art) and Ukiyo-e. This inclination towards provocative, perverse and sensational styles, yet medieval and classical, had turned Beardsley into an enigmatic celebrity.
We discover Beardsley’s beginnings as a diligent son who worked as a clerk at 16 years old to support his impoverished family while honing his drawing skills. This period in his life may have been echoed in Remains of a Poet (1892). A young man, seemingly portraying himself, sits on a high stool in front of a clerk’s desk. Below his feet is a bed of wilted sunflowers in dense, black background, mirroring aestheticism. The illustration appears minimal and austere, but is gracefully enhanced by the profound black and white contrast. Pursuit of his art was often restricted by recurring attacks of tuberculosis, which made it difficult for him to leave home. The severe condition, nevertheless, did not hinder him from nourishing his artistic passion.
Aubrey Beardsley, ‘The Climax', plate XV for Salomé by Oscar Wilde 1893 (designed), 1907 (printed), Victoria and Albert Museum,
Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In 1892, Beardsley worked on a series of designs that implied strong influences of James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Andrea Mantegna, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Japanese woodcuts. The early work Siegfried, Act II (1892), linked to Act II of Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried, clearly defines the artist’s distinct hairline calligraphic style. The elongated figure and linear rendering are reflective of Burne-Jones’ works, as well as the physical expression adopted from Mantegna.
Beardsley’s gradual success shined with continuous commissions. In 1892, he was hired by publisher J.M. Dent to illustrate the book Le Morte d’Arthur (1893-94) based on Sir Thomas Malory’s tales about the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He designed more than 350 bindings, elaborate illustrations, initials, and borders for this project, utilizing “black-and-white” lithography, the common print medium of those times. In the book, the drawing King Arthur Meets the Snarling Monster (1893) suggests a fantasy forest with King Arthur gazing at a teasing mystical creature. The elements in the background, including the castle and tree trunks, are articulated by fine and delicate lines, as opposed to the dark-colored hair of the protagonist and tunic wrapped around his waist.
The year 1893 was regarded as “Beardsley’s era.” Merely twenty years old, the artist was already featured in the art magazine The Studio. In the first issue, The Climax (1893), reproduction of the original I Kissed Thy Mouth, Jokanaan (1893), ignited quite a public stir. Based on Wilde’s play Salome (1894), the heroine emerges with snake-like black hair, raising and attempting to kiss the decapitated head of John the Baptist, which drips blood on a somber pool of lilies. At the top left, a mass of circles resembles peacock feathers (attributed to peacocks drawn by Whistler), dabbed in deep black and white, creating a contrast of shapes. The work had been considered as one of Beardsley’s most exceptional accomplishments, which branded him a leading artist of the Decadent movement of the 19th century.
Aubrey Beardsley , ‘The Toilette of ‘Salomé II', plate XII for Salomé by Oscar Wilde 1893 (designed), 1907 (printed), Victoria and Albert Museum, Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Aubrey Beardsley, "Keynote Series', re-issue by Anthony d’Offay, 1893 (designed), 1966 (reissued), Victoria and Albert Museum,
Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Aubrey Beardsley, Poster advertising "A Comedy of Sighs' by John Todhunter and 'The Land of Heart's Desire' by W.B. Yeats at the Avenue Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London, 1894, Victoria and Albert Museum, Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Other pictures from Salome, such as Makeup II (1893, 1907) and The Peacock Skirt (1893, 1907) evoke similar swooping lines, floating characters, and sophisticated fashion (particularly on Salome), which hints Wilde’s own extravagance with clothes. The Peacock Skirt, again, depicts intricate peacock and cherry blossom designs. In Makeup II, we catch a glimpse of the avant-garde era represented by the cosmetics, coiffure, and the maid on the right adjusting Salome’s headdress.
Beardsley’s fame surged further when he became art editor of The Yellow Book in 1894. The role presented him the opportunity to maximize the use of the latest line-black printing process and publish his modern designs. The position, unfortunately, did not last long. When Wilde was arrested on charges of homosexuality in the spring of 1895, Beardsley was stripped off his editorial title, and was deprived of income.
Financially desperate, he endeavored on the scandalous drawings of Lysistrata, Greek play by Aristophanes, which consequently spilled a backlash against him. An exclusive section in the exhibition exposes a few of the erotic illustrations. The artist’s popularity slowly faded in the following years, more so, dampened by his worsening health.
Paintings by Gustave Moreau and Charles Ricketts, as well as furniture and accessories delineating the Anglo-Japanese style appropriately set the background behind the master’s much publicized life.
By Alma Reyes
