Product Description

Beardsley's work is looked at alongside the work of contemporaries such as Oscar Wilde, Max Beerbohm and W.B. Yeats and against the backdrop of the artistic, literary and social life of fin-de-siecle London, Dieppe and Paris. In addition to the drawings, the book includes examples of Beardsley's innovative book binding, prints and posters, revealing a gallery of portraits and photographs from that decadent period, the "Naughty Nineties." It also explores the diverse influences, such as ancient Greek vase painting and Japanese prints, upon which the young artist freely drew in the formation of his own style.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #784894 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
There was little that fin-de-siècle artist Aubrey Beardsley's famous gold-nibbed pen could not illustrate--drawings, posters, bookbindings. Though he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25, he left an enormous body of work behind that found a willing audience during his lifetime in the more outré circles of the "naughty '90s" and now symbolizes the decadence of the 1890s. Beardsley possessed an astonishing range of expression, but he is perhaps most famous for his outrageous erotic drawings--many of which adorned such artistic magazines as the Savoy and the Yellow Book. He pushed public opinion to the limit with his sequence of graphic illustrations for Aristophanes's Lysistrata, which, deemed obscene, remained unpublished until 1966.

Biographer Stephen Calloway curated the centenary exhibition of Beardsley's work at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London during autumn of 1998. He closely scrutinizes Beardsley's life in the light of his subversive drawings in this in-depth, superbly illustrated biography that coincides with the exhibition.

Review
...a judicious and handsome critical study... -- The New York Times Book Review, Sarah Harrison Smith

Mr. Calloway quotes one Chris Snodgrass--"Beardsley's stylized irony recuperates the dislocations it reveals, serving to reinforce the anesthetizing effects of his harmonizing aesthetic techniques, adding another veneer of 'style' to distance and mitigate the dissonant metaphysical implications his works expose." Mr. Calloway then promises not to undertake a similar approach--to the great relief of any sensible reader--and keeps his word with contemporary sources for the facts of Beardsley's career and a minimum of speculation on possible reasons for the artist's addiction to the sexually ambiguous and the subtly subversive. A precocious success at twenty, dead of tuberculosis at twenty-five, Beardsley was, quite simply, like nobody else in his control of line and his use of black and white space, as the book's illustrations prove. One can only wish there were more of them. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams

Language Notes
Text: German

Customer Reviews

Fantastic overview, great reproduction, must have book
This is an excellent addition to any Beardsley fan's bookshelf. Great reproductions, some rare drawings I've never seen, and interesting photos and supporting artwork and photos of the same era. Very readable, jolly good show!

Disappointing and Amateurish
It's hard to believe that Taschen published this book. The text contains many basic errors, and the author ascribes various drawings to Beardsley that are widely known to be fakes. Also, the reproduction quality on some drawings is poor. It's a shame because Taschen is generally a really good publisher.