35.00USD
Wonderful find! In 1897, one year before his death, Aubrey Beardsley was hard at work on a collection of illustrations for Mademoiselle de Maupin, a romance by Theophile Gautier. This work was to be a turning point in his career-a dramatic change in style. For admirers of Beardsley's work, who may have seen some of his illustrations for Wilde's Salome, or cover art for the "Yellow Book," the dramatic contrast of light and dark in his pen and ink drawings will have been more than apparent, even brilliant, but Beardsley was experimenting with more detail now, finer lines, and washes, resulting in softer tones-mid-range contrasts-that required the delicacy of a photogravure plate. Wonderful stuff!
The work on the book was never finished, though, and Aubrey Beardsley died the next year, having completed only six of the illustrations. These six were published by Leonard Smithers in 1898, limited to 50 copies, and distributed unbound in half cloth portfolios.
Our print, discovered in a ratty old frame at a church rummage sale, is of one of those illustrations: "Lady with Monkey," and is very likely to be from the 1898 portfolio edition. It is on fine, heavy stock, deeply impressed by the plate, and the entire sheet measures approx. 10 and 3/4 by 13 and 1/2 inches, while the plate depression measures 7 and 3/8 by 8 and 6/8 inches. Evident in our scans, the print shows some foxing, and age discoloration near the edges which were just inside the mat. Also about a square 3/4 inch of the upper right corner of the sheet was torn away at some time in the past, but this would be beneath the matting once framed, in any case.
This beautiful print, though flawed, presents the opportunity to add to your collection an original print of Beardsley's work, and will undoubtedly make someone deliriously happy!
We will ship this print, unframed, first class, and sandwiched safely between stiff cardboard sheets.