Aubrey Beardsley: Research Point

In a career that spanned just 6 years and ended at a mere 25 years of age, Beardsley produced more than a thousand drawings.

Photographic print processes appeared to rise up to the challenge of doing justice to his work. A zinc line block process faithfully reproduced the seas of black ink intertwined with complementary tendrils of white. These formed stylised representations of the human form engaged in the heights of emotional ecstasy as well as the depths of what some might term depravity.

Beardsley, a man of independent fortune, appeared to be free to roam with his visual depictions of the overtly sexual human form. There seems to have been little in the way of societal prohibition through which to curb his fantasies and therefore effect his outcomes. Perhaps with no ‘master of the wallet’ to dampen his soul and keep the reins taut, Beardsley allowed himself to run creatively amok.

References:

Calloway, S. et al. (2020) Aubrey Beardsley. London: Tate. Tate (no date)

Aubrey Beardsley – Exhibition at Tate Britain, Tate. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/aubrey-beardsley (Accessed: 8 April 2021).