Aubrey Beardsley Art: August 2008

Saturday, 30 August 2008

Beardsley's King Arthur

Fame came to Aubrey Beardsley in 1893 after publishing "LeMorte D'Arthur" , an english epic about King Arthur, by Thomas Malory with Aubrey's illustrations. It was a triumph! Critics wrote: "...Nobody can bring a simple line to its inevitable end with such a confidence..." In this work Aubrey Vincent Beardsley's style was born. He uses pen and ink. Black and white only, there is no half-tones. Edition of King Arthur with Beardsley's illustrations is very popular even today.

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Influence of Japanese art

Some of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings, inspired by Japanese shunga, featured enormous genitalia. His most famous erotic illustrations were on themes of history and mythology, including his illustrations for Aristophanes's "Lysistrata" and Oscar Wilde's "Salome".

Erotica

Aubrey Beardsley was the most controversial artist of the Nouveau era, renowned for his dark and perverse images and the grotesque erotica, which were the main themes of his later work.

Monday, 18 August 2008

Sunday on Harbour Square, Toronto, Ontario (Canada)

Original Beardsley picture

Geclee print on canvas and T-shirts with Beardsley

Beardsley's color giclee print 20"x30"

Beardsley at Waterfront

Compare original Beardsley (black and white) with color enhanced version:

Residents of Toronto (Canada) and tourists have had an excellent opportunity to meet some of Beardsley's works on canvas and T-shirts last Sunday.

Aubrey Beardsley: Combination of lines and spots.

...Thin lines, cloudy dashes, and two-three bright spots, charming design: almost nothing, but said a lot.
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an influential English illustrator, and author, best known for his erotic illustrations. His phenomenon has nothing similar in European history of book printing. His illustrations were very modern in his time and even more so today.
Aubrey Beardsley was born on August 21,1872 in Brighton, England. At age 4 he makes his first drawings. In 1884 in London he appeares in public as an "infant musical phenomenon," playing at several concerts with his sister. At the same period he begins to compose music and writes poems.
In 1891, under the advice of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, he took up art as a profession. In 1892 Aubrey attended the classes at the Westminster School of Art, then was aligned with the Yellow Book Coterie of Artists and Writers. 1894He was an art editor for the first four editions and produced many illustrations for the magazine. For his connections with Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned for his homosexual orientation in 1895, Aubrey Beardsley was fired from the magazine.
On March 16, 1898 after many years suffering tuberculosis, ups and downs due to depression, Aubrey Beardsley died in Mentone, France at age 25.
In one of his last letters Aubey asked Leonard Smithers, his friend and publisher, to destroy all indecent drawings and pictures. Luckily for us, his request was not executed. Enjoy!