In the brief span of his life and career, Aubrey Beardsley (1872?98) galvanized public attention in 1890s London with his exotic renderings of subjects, which often projected the sensual and the grotesque. This splendid volume brings together the best of Beardsley’s work ? a rich selection ranging from illustrations for Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Balzac’s La Comédie Humaine to magazine cover designs, book plate silhouettes, title-page ornaments, and delightful mini-portraits of major composers. Also included are two photographs of the artist, consisting of private portrait studies by Frederick H. Evans. Over 180 beautifully reproduced black-and-white plates capture the uniqueness of Beardsley’s vision and reveal the seductive power of his art. Among the illustrations are brilliantly conceived vignettes fromLe Morte D’arthur, Venus and Tannhäuser, Salome, and Lucian’s True History as well as enchanting creations forThe Yellow Book (an influential British arts quarterly), and much more. Characterized by bold black masses, elongated shapes, and sensually provocative figures, these works are the product of a remarkable individual style that transformed the art of illustration. Reproduced here in an inexpensive high-quality format, they are certain to thrill not only Beardsley enthusiasts but anyone interested in the early years of modern graphic art.
