Aubrey beardsley art nouveau work
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Aubrey Beardsley: (1872–1898)
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 1872 – 16 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author.
His drawings in black ink, influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasised the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. Elected to the New English Art Club in 1894, he was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler. Beardsley's contribution to the development of the Art Nouveau and poster styles was significant, despite the brevity of his career before his early death from tuberculosis aged just 25.
Early Life
Beardsley was born in Brighton in 1872. In 1883 his family settled in London, and in the following year, he appeared in public as an ‘infant musical phenomenon’, playing at several concerts with his sister. In 1885, he began to attend Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School, where he spent the next four years. His first poems, drawings, and cartoons appeared in print in Past and Present, the school's magazine. In 1891, under the advice of Sir E
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The Story of Aubrey Beardsley in Five Artworks
Aubrey Beardsley made a name for himself at a young age as a great illustrator. From his association with Oscar Wilde, to his erotic and satirical art style, Beardsley’s life was notorious. His innovative work is admired by many across the world. Learn the story of Aubrey Beardsley through five of his artworks.
Beardsley's inspirations
This is an illustration of Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried. It is finely detailed and demonstrates Beardsley’s ‘hairline’ style. Beardsley had many inspirations, such as Pre-Raphaelite artworks or Greek vases he saw at the British Museum. His imagination was also fuelled by Japanese and Renaissance art. One of Beardsley’s biggest points of reference was his early mentor Edward Burne-Jones, who drew elongated figures like those in Beardsley’s artworks. The combination of all these sources played a part in shaping Beardsley's unique style. At only 21, he was already admired as a new illustrator on the scene.
Salome, sex and satire
Enter Herodias is named after a stage directi
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Aubrey Beardsley
Biography
Born in Brighton, England on August 21, 1872, Aubrey Beardsley’s artistic talent was not innate from a young age. His father, Vincent Beardsley was from a wealthy family but eventually lost his standing in society and was forced to find employment. His mother, Ellen (Pitt) Beardsley also came from a well-to-do family, and was an accomplished pianist and painter of silhouettes. Before his penchant for drawing, Aubrey had a passion for music which followed him throughout his life. At age seven, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and had to be sent away to a school in Sussex to regain his respiratory strength. In 1883, Vincent Beardsley accepted a position in London, where Aubrey and his sister, Mabel were encouraged to give piano recitals to earn extra money. A year later in 1884, financial difficulties forced Vincent and Ellen to send Aubrey and Mabel to live with their great-aunt Pitt in Brighton. Always close friends, Aubrey and Mabel spent a great deal of time walking to a church a mile from their great-aunt’s house to view th
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