In Print - Illustration and publishing

Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) was a key figure in illustration and publishing, and a significant figure in the Aesthetic movement. Born in Brighton, an English seaside town, he combated the tedium of an office job with drawing and illustration. After encouragement from Edward Burne-Jones, he headed for Paris in 1892. His reputation was established by an illustration of Salome holding the dripping head of John the Baptist. This was published in the first edition of The Studio, a magazine which had an international readership. His erotically-charged pen and ink illustrations typifying fin-de-siècle decadence were also published in Aesthetic quarterly, The Yellow Book. That association ended following the trial and imprisonment of Oscar Wilde in 1895, which affected all those in his circle. Beardsley’s career was tragically short: he died of tuberculosis aged 25.