Beardsley, Aubrey, 1872-1898
Dates
- Existence: 1872 - 1898
Biographical Note
Aubrey Beardsley, born in 1872 in England, suffered from tuberculosis much of his life. He trained at the Westminster School of Art (1891). Beardsley's unique illustrations were characterized by dramatic blacks and whites and adapted well to a new printing method using metal instead of wood blocks. Notably, Beardsley illustrated Thomas Malloy's Morte d'Arthur (1893), Oscar Wilde's Salomé (1894), Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock (1896), Aristophanes' Lysistrata (1896), and Ben Jonson's Volpone (1898). While artistically innovative, Beardsley's designs were controversially erotic and cruel in emphasis. Beardsley converted to Catholicism (1897) and succumbed to tuberculosis the following year at age twenty-five.
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Boston College collection of Aubrey Beardsley
This collection documents the work of nineteenth-century English illustrator Aubrey Beardsley through an ink drawing, prints, a proof, and clippings of journal illustrations. It includes prints for an 1898 edition of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories, advertisement designs, and a scrapbook containing clippings documenting the last six years of Beardsley's career as an illustrator. There are also two obituaries.
Collection is open for research.