Aubrey Beardsley:
Aubrey was born in August 1872 in England, attended Bristol Grammar School as a child and was considered an artistic prodigy. He had poor health throughout his childhood as well. His first works were a poem published in his grammar school’s paper in 1885, and shortly after his first drawings in the same paper. He then did illustrations for the schools Christmas entertainment in 1888 and wrote another piece for his schools paper. Finally after frustration with not gaining recognition he met with Sir Edward Burne-Jones who – impressed by the boys drawings – sent him to attend Westminister School of Art. From then on out Aubrey worked incredibly hard on his illustrations his work being used on covers and in books, including work for the famous Oscar Wilde. It was actually working for Wilde that would later prove to be his downfall. Aubrey’s fame truly started when his characteristic black and white illustrations were featured in The Yellow Book a publication edited by Aubrey and Henry Harland. Despite the incredible quality of Aubrey’s work the critics found it to be too risqué. Some postulate that this reaction to Aubrey’s work was a result of his close relationship with Oscar Wilde who was tried and convicted of sodomy in 1895 just around the time of The Yellow Paper’s publication. Aubrey was asked to step down as editor but continued to do work for authors until his death at the age of 25.
What I find so inspiring about this story is that Aubrey found a way to do something he was so passionate about, and the fact that he accomplished this all at such a young age. I also found the stark black and white images to be very striking and perhaps a precursor to the art-deco movement. Below are some of the images that I found to be the most striking.
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