Beardsley Aubrey Gallery

Aubrey Beardsley, c1893. Creator: Frederick Hollyer

Aubrey Beardsley, c1893. Portrait of British artist and eccentric Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), a leading figure in the aesthetic movement. Beardsley was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of seven, and between 1893 and 1898, he produced well over a thousand drawings. His decadent and erotic subject matter was frequently shocking and even pornographic. Some of his more extreme material was published privately, and only available to subscribers. Technological innovations in printing enabled his often intricate designs to be faithfully reproduced. Beardsley collaborated with Oscar Wilde, producing drawings for Wilde's play "Salome", and he co-founded "The Studio" and "The Savoy" magazines. He also made caricatures and political cartoons. His brilliant career was cut short when he died of TB aged 25. From "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

The Toilet of Helen, 1895. Creator: Aubrey Beardsley

The Toilet of Helen, 1895. Before a toilet that shone like the altar of Notre Dame des Victoires, Helen was seated in a little dressing-gown of black and heliotrope. The coiffeur Cosme was caring for her scented chevelure, and with tiny silver tongs, warm from the caresses of the flame, made delicious intelligent curls that fell as lightly as a breath about her forehead and over her eyebrows, and clustered like tendrils round her neck'. Illustration for Beardsley's novel "Under the Hill". From The Savoy No. I'. Published in "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images

The Rape of the Lock, 1895-1896. Creator: Aubrey Beardsley

The Rape of the Lock, 1895-1896. The Baron attempst cuts a lock of Belinda's hair with a pair of scissors. He takes the gift with rev'rence, and extends; The little engine on his fingers ends; This just behind Belinda's neck he spread; As o'er the fragrant steams she bends her head'. Illustration for "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, published privately by Leonard Smithers in 1896. Rape in this context refers not to sexual violence but to the theft and carrying away of a lock of hair, from the Latin rapere: to snatch, to grab, to carry off. From "The Best of Beardsley" edited by R. A. Walker, [The Bodley Head, London, 1948]

© Shirley Markham Collection/Heritage Images