Aubrey Vincent Beardsley

July 15, 2021

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley

here are many artists from our reading this week I'm fond of… Japan’s woodblock prints of
“the floating world.” The stunning paintings of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Maxfield Parrish, Klimt, and so many more amazingly talented people. But what struck me most was the short life of Aubrey Vincent Beardsley.

Aubrey was born in Brighton Sussex, England. An illustrator and author, his sensual black and white drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts. He was able to depict the human experience with immense sensitivity. Illustrating the fears, longings, and relationships in his work I believe people could relate to.

Unfourtuneltley, fear kept everyone closed off from themselves. They couldn't appreciate his art.

I keep wondering…what must it have felt like to be a visionary genius? Stuck in an era of prudish fools and unabashed prejudice. The young artist's work was seen as grotesque. Even his friend, Oscar Wilde, whom he illustrated for on many occasions, referred to his work as “the naughty scribbles a precocious boy makes on the margins of his copybook,” he meant this as a complement rather than an insult. However, It seemed as though everyone that saw his art regarded it with the maturity of a prepubescent teenager.

DETESTABLE. LUSTFUL. MORBID. Unfair and misguided descriptions that would follow Beardsley’s career even after his death.

Ali Baba (1897)

https://www.illustrationhistory.org/illustrations/cover-design-for-ali-baba

Aubrey Beardsley Enter Herodias 1893

ate.org.uk/art/artists/aubrey-beardsley-716/story-aubrey-beardsley-five-artworks

Of a Neophyte, and How the Black Art Was Revealed unto Him by the Fiend Asomuel, 1893

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/335940453425439196/

The culture in all corners of Victorian society at the time was prudish. Fears around sex, gender and sexuality silenced discussions and those that challenged the established conventions often found themselves shamed and punished. But Beardsley had a fascination with the strange and shocking, incorporating subtle details of taboo in many of his most popular works. Full nude bodies, same-sex romance and androgyny are littered throughout his drawings.

I was enchanted by his macabre dream-like illustrations. I am captivated by the stark black contrasts, and elegance-like Japanese calligraphy, of his work. His drawings tell a story of the primitive parts of us. The raw and real parts. Even more than that, I loved that he spoke out, with wicked humor I might add, and an observant eye for people's bizarre and often humorous vices.

Glimpsing into his life, I feel immense respect for this wonderfully “controversial” artist who was not afraid to be authentically himself. I’m not sure I’ve ever been that true to my creativity or to myself for that matter.…

Beardsley’s life ended heartbreakingly too soon. He died at twenty-six succumbing to a long battle with tuberculosis.

He was ahead of his time... I think he knew that. Perhaps on some level, Beardsley realized he couldn’t be bothered with the fleeting opinions of his fellow humans. Time was not a luxury he could afford to waste.