{"title":"Books by Aubrey Beardsley","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780486262734","title":"Best Works of Aubrey Beardsley","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 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 \u003ci\u003eLes Liaisons Dangereuses\u003c\/i\u003e and Balzac's \u003ci\u003eLa Comédie Humaine\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003eOver 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 from \u003ci\u003eLe Morte D'arthur, Venus and Tannhäuser, Salome, \u003c\/i\u003eand\u003ci\u003e Lucian's True History\u003c\/i\u003e as well as enchanting creations for \u003ci\u003eThe Yellow Book\u003c\/i\u003e (an influential British arts quarterly), and much more.\u003cbr\u003eCharacterized 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56290886451573,"sku":"9780486262734","price":12.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780486262734_8107a86d-a930-4469-822b-0022c23ef4ea.jpg?v=1786014207"},{"product_id":"9781843681915","title":"Bon Mots and Grotesques","description":"\u003cp\u003e'To critics who said that the full-lipped so-called 'Beardsley mouth', which adorned many of his women, was 'inexpressive and ugly', the artist countered, 'Well, let them criticise. It's my mouth and not theirs. I like big mouths. People like the little mouth - the \"Dolly Varden\" mouth, if that describes it better. A big mouth is the sign of character and strength. Look at Ellen Terry with her great, strong mouth. In fact, I haven't any patience with small-mouthed people.' 'The popular idea of a picture is something told in oil or writ in water to be hung on a room's wall or in a picture gallery to perplex an artless public.' 'To my mind, there is nothing so depressing as a Gothic cathedral. I hate to have the sun shut out by the saints.' 'What a nice ample creature George Sand is: like a wonderful old cow with all her calves.' And other witty, urbane insights on life, art, and culture, illustrated with selected drawings from his \u003cem\u003eGrotesques\u003c\/em\u003e series.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308023296373,"sku":"9781843681915","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781843681915_4ec46b79-8610-4afc-9e23-b75c8f629db8.jpg?v=1786028230"},{"product_id":"9780486218304","title":"Salome","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew works in English literature have so peculiar a history as Oscar Wilde's play \u003ci\u003eSalome\u003c\/i\u003e. Written originally in French in 1892 and ridiculed on its publication, translated into English by Lord Alfred Douglas (\"Bosie\" himself) and again heaped with scorn, it has survived for 75 years, served as the text (in abridged form) for Richard Strauss' world-famous opera, and emerged as an acknowledged masterwork of the Aesthetic movement of \u003ci\u003efin de siècle\u003c\/i\u003e England.\u003cbr\u003eThe illustrations that Aubrey Beardsley prepared for the first English edition have no less strange a story. Beardsley liked neither the play nor its author. Yet, it inspired some of his finest work. It is an open question as to how suited the drawings actually are to the text that Wilde wrote. Yet, the two, the play and the Beardsley illustrations, have nevertheless become so identified with each other as to be inseparable.\u003cbr\u003eThis edition reprints the first edition (1894) text, with \"A Note on 'Salome'\" by Robert Ross. The Beardsley drawings it superbly reproduces (mostly from a rare early portfolio) include not only the 10 full-page illustrations, the front and back cover designs, the title and List of Illustrations page decorations, and the \u003ci\u003ecul de lampe\u003c\/i\u003e from the original edition, but also three drawings that were not used, an alternate cover sketch, and the drawing entitled \"\u003ci\u003eJ'ai baisé ta bouche, Iokanaan,\u003c\/i\u003e\" which Beardsley did earlier for \u003ci\u003eThe Studio\u003c\/i\u003e. Furthermore, all of the illustrations are reproduced in their original state, not as expurgated in the first and most subsequent editions.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311771890037,"sku":"9780486218304","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780486218304_9893a7bc-ad6b-43eb-ba87-6f0f183dd55f.jpg?v=1786014072"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-aubrey-beardsley.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}