Picture book master: Who is Aubrey Vincent Beardsley?
He is the greatest representative of his style in book illustration.
(1872-1898) English book illustrator and cartoonist. He is the greatest representative of the New Art (Art Nouveau) style in book illustration. He was born in Brighton. When he was 18 years old, he left the architecture office where he was working, following the recommendations of the painter Puvis de Chavannes and Burne-Jones, and continued painting at the Westminster Art School. He made more than 500 designs for Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur. He was the editor of the Yellow Book magazine in 1894, he drew numerous illustrations for the Savoy magazine, which he later passed, and wrote as much poetry. His most important book illustrations are Oscar Wilde's Salome, Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock, and Ben Jonson's Volpone, which he performed just before his death. The years between 1892 and 1898 were the most productive years in terms of art. He died of tuberculosis in Menton.
Beardsley expressed the spirit of the New Art style on a level that no British artist could achieve. Decorative formalism based on the interweaving of lines evokes Gustav Klimt's style. Their work can be divided into three groups. In his first period, he was under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite painters, Burne-Jones and Puvis de Chavannes. The products of the second period, in which the masses that make up the composition are distributed in a balanced arrangement, are extremely decorative. The effects of Japanese prints are also evident in these. In the last period when he was inspired by 18th-century French art, a return to a kind of Naturalism predominates.
Expressing a reaction against the Victorian era in the 1890s and his anger against the materialistic lifestyle around him, Beardsley mostly dealt with dreamy, erotic, and morbid themes with his decorative linear forms and a sincere cynical attitude. His designs for Morto d'Arthur and his designs published in the Yellow Book are the most original examples of his art.
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Aubrey Vincent Beardsley's works
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/beardsley-aubrey/