Viva Brighton Issue #61 March 2018

ART
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Aubrey Beardsley
Decadent Brightonian
It is 120 years since the celebrated Victorian illustrator
Aubrey Beardsley died of tuberculosis, at the
age of 25. Beardsley enthusiast Alexia Lazou will
this month lead a series of events to mark his death.
Aubrey Beardsley was born in Buckingham
Road in 1872. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis
at the age of seven and attended Hamilton Lodge
School in Hurstpierpoint. People speculate that
he had this shadow hanging over him all the time
and that he worked quickly as he never knew how
long he might live. He was a boarder at Brighton
Grammar School until 16, then moved back to live
with his family in London.
He heard that the artist Edward Burne-Jones
was having an open studio and turned up with his
sister Mabel and his portfolio. There was no open
studio, but Burne-Jones noticed Mabel’s lovely
red hair and invited them in. He saw promise in
Beardsley and advised that he take evening classes.
Beardsley took his advice, receiving his first commission
aged 19.
A new magazine called The Studio featured
Beardsley in its first issue, including his drawing
for the Oscar Wilde play Salome, which had then
only been published in French. He received the
commission to illustrate the English edition and
that’s about the length of his professional connection
with Oscar Wilde, although people tend to
draw it out.
At the age of 22 he became the founding art
editor of The Yellow Book. It was a journal of
art and literature but, where artists were traditionally
treated as illustrators for the writing, the
idea was that artists would be considered in their
own right. It grew in success until the scandal of
Wilde’s arrest. The papers reported that Wilde left
his hotel ‘carrying a yellow book under his arm’,
(French novels considered decadent and racy, were
often given yellow covers, which is why they had
chosen the title for the magazine) and it was indeed
a French novel that he was carrying at the time. But
protesters descended on the magazine publisher’s
offices regardless, throwing stones at the window.
Beardsley was sacked from his own publication.
It was suggested that after Beardsley left, The
Yellow Book turned grey overnight and that all
the interest had gone. He went on to set up another
journal, The Savoy, along similar lines, with decadent
literature, poetry and art, until he died a few
years later. He had only been working for six years.
I can’t help but wonder what would have happened
had he lived longer.
At Brighton Museum & Art Gallery there are
two of his original drawings in the collection.
One is an unused design from the fifth issue of The
Yellow Book. There is also his pencil box and Brighton
Grammar School good conduct medal, although
I can’t work out what he got it for. Allegedly he was
really naughty; his nickname was Weasel.
As told to Lizzie Lower
Full programme at beardsley120.eventbrite.co.uk
The Climax by Aubrey Beardsley
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