Catch it now: Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain
For anyone interested in the history of illustration, this year’s Aubrey Beardsley exhibition at Tate Britain is an unmissable event. Featuring more than 200 works, Tate’s show is the first major Beardsley retrospective to be held in the UK for over 50 years. Closed due to Coronavirus shortly after it opened in March, it has now been extended until the 20th September, meaning that you still have time to discover the work of this fascinating - and infamous - artist and illustrator.
Who was Aubrey Beardsley?
Beardsley lived a brief yet intense life. Born in Brighton in 1871, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age of 7, and died of the disease at just 25. During his short career he produced over 1,000 prints and drawings, and earned the respect of some of the greatest artists of his age, including Whistler. At a time when print and magazine culture was booming, his primarily monochrome prints and drawings enjoyed an enormous influence on the graphic arts of his time, leading to the 1890s being dubbed ‘the Beardsley Period’.
What characterises Beardsley’s work?
Beardsley worked almost exclusively in black pen and ink. Initially strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, he quickly developed a sinuous, flowing line that became characteristic of the new Art Nouveau movement. Perhaps more than his style, however, he became infamous for his choice of subject: often highly sensual and erotically charged, his illustrations scandalised Victorian society with their depictions of nudity, gender fluidity, and same-sex relationships.
Fame and controversy
Aware that tuberculosis would limit his lifespan, Beardsley longed for fame, and carefully cultivated his self-image as a dandy and aesthete. He first enjoyed public notoriety in 1984, when he was commissioned to illustrate the English translation of Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé, which explored the problematic themes of death and sexual desire, and caused a sensation on its publication.
Beardsley followed this success by becoming editor of The Yellow Book, a magazine that became both infamous and iconic. Instantly recognisable for its yellow cover (a colour also used for French erotic novels), the magazine courted controversy by placing art and literature on an equal footing, and for the daring modernity of Beardsley’s illustrations. Although Beardsley’s work has become indelibly linked with The Yellow Book, his tenure as editor was short lived: after Oscar Wilde was arrested for homosexuality in 1895 while carrying a book with a yellow cover, an angry mob broke the windows of the magazine’s publishing house, leading its owner to sack Beardsley, who was now tainted in the public imagination by his association with Wilde.
Although he continued to work after this scandal, Beardsley would never again be able to secure a regular income, and was forced to sell his home in Pimlico and emigrate to France, where he died in 1898.
Why see the show?
Alongside Beardsley’s own drawings, the exhibition also examines his influence on later culture, including the huge revival of interest in Beardsley’s style that followed the last major retrospective of his work, held at the V&A in 1966. That show, which was well-attended by a young audience, chimed with the anti-establishment values of the 60s, which embraced Beardsley’s style in fashion, poster design, underground magazines, and record art.
Such is the influence of Beardsley on later illustration and design that his prints and drawings have been extensively reproduced, and may feel familiar. Tate’s exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see dozens of Beardsley’s drawings at first hand, and to observe the extraordinary quality and intricacy of his draughtsmanship. Spanning seven years of work, it also allows visitors to closely study the rapid developments in his style that occurred in such a short, yet hugely impactful career, and to learn more about the life and times of an extraordinary artist.
Thank you for reading,
Rebecca Wall & Cluster Journal