Best of Aubrey Beardsley

180 Pages·1978·25.135 MB·English

by  Kenneth Clark, Baron Clark McKenzie, Aubrey Beardsley

the Best OF
Aubrey Beardsley
KENNETH CLARK
by
—
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HEN AUBREY BEARDSLEY DIED IN
-CT>
1898 at the age of 26, he was better --<LJO>
known for the shock his drawings had =CO
coo
on the public than as perhaps the great-
•o
est illustrator in the history of British
art. In an incredibly brief career of
six years, Beardsley illustrated books, co
plays, and articles. He made posters,
book plates, caricatures, and sketches
in a style instantly recognizable and
—
to his contemporaries infinitely shock-
ing. Even today, 85 years after they
were drawn, Beardsley's illustrations
for Oscar Wilde's Salome have the
power, to startle the viewer by their
frank voluptuousness and sense of evil.
As Kenneth Clark writes in THE BEST
OF AUBREY BEARDSLEY, "His drawings
exhale an aroma of sin, compared to
which Wilde's writings are quite harm-
less."
In THE BEST OF AUBREY BEARDSLEY,
Kenneth Clark selects his sixty favor-
ites among the body of Beardsley's
work and in his introductory essay and
commentaries places Beardsley among
the great artists of the "Civilisation"
he has described in the book of that
name. Kenneth Clark reveals that his
infatuation with Beardsley's drawings
goes back sixty years to his school days,
when he himself drew "pastiches" of
Beardsley; one of them was discovered
in his desk by his housemaster who said,
"It's erotic and neurotic, and I won't
have it in my house." But Kenneth
Clark says, "I was not fascinated by
Beardsley's sexual depravities. I had
already recognized his extraordinary
" powers of design."
The power of Beardsley's work was
^ontinued on Back Flap
Btarufe- cearubiej, Aubrey
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THE BcSt OF
Aubrey Beardsley

BcSt
THE OF
Aubrey
Beardsley
by
KENNETH CLARK
AN
ARTABRAS
BOOK
£vtf
Doubleday and Company, Inc.
NEW YORK, NY.
Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data
Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent, 1872-1898.
The best ofAubrey Beardsley.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent, 1872-1898.
I. Clark, Kenneth McKenzie, Baron Clark, 1903—
II. Title.
NC242.B3A4 1978 74l,.092,4 78-7061
0-385-14543-8
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilized
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or by any.information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries
should be addressed to Artabras, Inc., 505 Park Avenue, New York,
N. Y. 10022
Printed and bound in the U.S.A.
111 1
Contents
FORIWORD 7 L'Education Sentimentale 106—107
Introduction 1 Mrs. Marsuple, from L'Education
thf hates 45 Sentimentale 108-109
Tannhauser 46—47 A Night Piece 110-111
The Litany of Man Magdalen 48—49 Mrs. Patrick Campbell 112-1 13
Les Revenants de Musique 50—51 Design for the title page ofThe Yellow Book,
How King Arthur Saw the Questing Beast 52—53 Volume II 114-115
Border and initial A with the opening text of Gar^ons du Cafe 1 16-1 17
Volume I, Chapter I, Book II ofLe Morte Portrait ofHimself 118-119
Dartbur 54-55 Lady Gold's Escort 120-12
How La Beale Isoud Nursed Sir Tristram 56—57 The Wagnerites 122-123
. . .
Two chapter headings ofL< Morte Darthur 58—59 The Mysterious Rose Garden 124—125
. .
How La Beale Isoud Wrote to Sir Tristram 60-6 Frontispiece to Juvenal 126—127
Drawing for a full-page border with the The Spinster's Scrip 128-129
initial A ofVolume II. Chapter I, Book Drawing for the frontispiece ofJohn
XII ofLe Morte Darthur 62-63 Davidson's A Full and True Account ofthe
How Queen Guenever Made Her a Nun . . . 64—65 Wonderful Mission ofEarl Lavender 130—131
Siegfried, Act II 66—67 The Return ofTannhauser to the
The Birthday ofMadame Cigale 68—69 Venusberg 132—133
J'ai baise ta bouce Iokanaan 70—71 Messalina Returning Home 134—135
Incipit Vita Nova 72—73 Black Coffee 136-137
The Kiss ofJudas 74-75 A Suggested Reform in Ballet Costume . . 138—139
Design for the front cover ofSalome 76—77 The Toilet 140-141
The Woman in the Moon 78—79 The Battle ofthe Beaux and the Belles 142-143
The Peacock Skirt 80-81 The Abbe 144-145
The Black Cape 82-83 The Ascension ofSaint Rose ofLima .... 146—147
The Eyes of Herod 84-8*5 The Coiffing 148-149
The Toilet ofSalome (second version) 86—87 The Death of Pierrot 150-151
The Dancers Reward 88-89 Ave Atque Vale 152-153
Enter Herodias 90-9 Don Juan, Sganarelle, and the Beggar . . . 154—155
Chopin Ballade III 92-93 Apollo Pursuing Daphne (unfinished) .... 156—157
La Dame aux Camelias 94—95 Design for the front cover ofThe Savoy,
The Fat Woman 96-97 no. 1 158-159
Rejane (Portrait ofMadame Rejane) 98-99 Messalina Returning from the Bath 160—161
Invitation Card to the Opening of the The Lady at the Dressing Table 162—163
Prince's Ladies GolfClub at Mitcham, The Lady with the Monkey 164—165
Surrey, on July 16, 1894 100-101 Design for the front cover ofBenJonson;
Caricature of Whistler 102-103 his Volpone; or, The Foxe 166—167
Design for the front cover ofthe prospectus of Volpone Adoring his Treasure 168—169
The Yellou Book, Volume I 104-105 Index 171