Aubrey Beardsley
On this day in 1872, Aubrey Beardsley, an English illustrator and author, was born. He is famous for his black ink drawings that were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement, which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler, despite his premature death when he was 25 years old.
The engraving we present today was first reproduced in the first English edition of Oscar Wilde's one-act play Salomé in 1894. These illustrations helped cement Beardsley's career. The play, originally written in French by Wilde, was banned in Britain because of an old rule prohibiting the depiction of biblical characters on stage. The woman, presumed to be Salomé, is viewed from the back in a flowing robe with a dramatic stylized peacock design on the skirt, as well as an elaborate headdress complete with stylized peacock feathers, some of which trail down her back. To her left is a stylized peacock within a decorative dotted, scalloped border, while on her right is a male figure, generally assumed to be the Young Syrian, with his left arm partially outstretched, wearing a pleated knee-length robe and a headdress.
The praise upset Oscar Wilde himself, who thought the illustrations were getting more notice than the play they were meant to illustrate. Wilde said “I admire, I do not like Aubrey’s illustrations. They are too Japanese, while my play is Byzantine.”
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P.S. Learn more about Aubrey Beardsley's life and art here!