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Art Express
Who is Aubrey Beardsley?
Born on August 21, 1872 in Brighton, England, Aubrey Beardsley was a consummate artist in his chosen field of pen and ink drawings and had an everlasting effect on poster art. A child of the Industrial Age, Aubrey's work was tailored to the mass produced work ethic of the time. Though born into a genteel family, Aubrey and his sister Mabel were often destitute. Both Aubrey and Mabel, who later on became an actor, were infant prodigies, gifted in the music and the arts. In 1884, Aubrey was sent off to the Boston Grammar School. In 1889, he got a job as a clerk in an insurance firm. Frustrated with his job, Aubrey wished admittance into the art world, which happened soon enough.
The story of Aubrey and Mabel visiting the studio of the painter Edward Burne-Jones uninvited is famous. A servant sent the two away but Burne-Jones observing Mabel's flaming red hair invited the two in. Burne-Jones was impressed with Aubrey's portfolio and asked him to take night classes at the Westminster School of Art. Burne-Jones was also responsible for introducing Aubrey to Oscar Wilde - an association, which would take Aubrey to the pinnacle of fame and also plunge him into the nadir of notoriety.
Between 1893 and 94, Aubrey produced a prodigious amount of work including illustrating J. M. Dent's edition of Morte D'Arthur. In 1893, he met Wilde who admired his illustrations and gave him 50 guineas to illustrate the English version of his play Salome. Aubrey wanted to translate the play from French as well but in answer, Wilde sent him an autographed copy of the play with the words "For Aubrey: For the only artist who knows what the dance of seven veils is and can see that invisible dance."
However, Wilde did not approve of Aubrey's illustrations calling them too Japanese. There is every possibility that Wilde was worried of Aubrey's powerful illustrations rendering the text immaterial. In retaliation, Aubrey, a brilliant caricaturist, made a series of wicked caricatures featuring Wilde. In 1894, with the publication of The Yellow Book, the famous quarterly of art, Aubrey's star was soaring. The fame made Wilde vindictive and he went about saying he had invented Aubrey. On February 14, 1895 Aubrey attended the premier of Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest. That was the last time the two met. In April of the same year Wilde was tried and convicted of sodomy. He was exiled to the South of France. Aubrey had retired there to improve his health and even though the two were in the same town for over a year, they never met.
Aubrey was plagued by ill health. He had his first attack of tuberculosis when he was nine - a disease, which reduced him to an invalid and finally claimed his life on the night of March 15, 1898 at the age of 25.
Inspired by Greek vase painting, his work had a playful elegance tempered with a venomous streak. Aubrey was not concerned so much with making an illusion of reality as much as he wished to fill the given space with beautiful patterns and designs. Fascinated by the gloomy and bizarre, Aubrey's highly erotic paintings were emblematic of Decadent as well as the Symbolist movement.
MINI ANTHIKAD-CHHIBBER
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