The Toilet of Lampito
Print
ca. 1929 (printed and published)
ca. 1929 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Aubrey Beardsley's distinctive black and white drawings for Oscar Wilde's Salomé, published in 1894, brought him an extraordinary notoriety whilst still in his early twenties. His work for the periodical The Yellow Book confirmed his position as the most innovative illustrator of the day, but as a result of the hostile moralistic outcry that followed the arrest and trial of Oscar Wilde in early 1895, John Lane and other publishers panicked and dropped Beardsley. Thereafter, almost the only publisher who would use his drawings was Leonard Smithers. Smithers was a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books. He encouraged Beardsley's already growing interest in French, Latin and Greek texts of this kind and commissioned drawings to illustrate the Satires of the late Roman poet Juvenal and, most famously, Aristophanes's satirical play Lysistrata.
Beardsley's illustrations capture the amusing, bawdy quality of Aristophanes' text and also reveal the extent to which the artist had absorbed the frank humour of the early Greek vase-painters, whose work he had studied in the British Museum. This print comes from the folio of reproductions made directly from Beardsley's drawings published in about 1929. Utilising the expensive collotype process, these prints are much closer to the originals than the earlier line-block prints of the1896 edition of the book or the various, mostly very poor reproductions included in subsequent pirated printings.
Beardsley's illustrations capture the amusing, bawdy quality of Aristophanes' text and also reveal the extent to which the artist had absorbed the frank humour of the early Greek vase-painters, whose work he had studied in the British Museum. This print comes from the folio of reproductions made directly from Beardsley's drawings published in about 1929. Utilising the expensive collotype process, these prints are much closer to the originals than the earlier line-block prints of the1896 edition of the book or the various, mostly very poor reproductions included in subsequent pirated printings.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | The Toilet of Lampito (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Collotype print on paper |
Brief description | Collotype print after Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98), 'The Toilet of Lampito', illustration to The Lysistrata of Aristophanes, 1896. |
Physical description | Black and white print showing Lampito, a Spartan woman, naked except for stockings and slippers. Behind her, to the left, a diminutive figure with wings and bow and quiver (the attributes of Cupid), also naked, dusts Lampito's buttocks with a powder-puff in his right hand, whilst masturbating with his left. |
Dimensions |
|
Marks and inscriptions | Signed: AUBREY BEARDSLEY |
Credit line | Given by Mr Vyvyan Holland |
Object history | One of eight plates by Beardsley for The Lysistrata of Aristophanes London: Leonard Smithers, 1896. |
Production | The collotype reproductions made from the original drawings in about 1929 can be recognised by the distinctive watermark in the paper comprising the initials AB in a circle. |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Aubrey Beardsley's distinctive black and white drawings for Oscar Wilde's Salomé, published in 1894, brought him an extraordinary notoriety whilst still in his early twenties. His work for the periodical The Yellow Book confirmed his position as the most innovative illustrator of the day, but as a result of the hostile moralistic outcry that followed the arrest and trial of Oscar Wilde in early 1895, John Lane and other publishers panicked and dropped Beardsley. Thereafter, almost the only publisher who would use his drawings was Leonard Smithers. Smithers was a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books. He encouraged Beardsley's already growing interest in French, Latin and Greek texts of this kind and commissioned drawings to illustrate the Satires of the late Roman poet Juvenal and, most famously, Aristophanes's satirical play Lysistrata. Beardsley's illustrations capture the amusing, bawdy quality of Aristophanes' text and also reveal the extent to which the artist had absorbed the frank humour of the early Greek vase-painters, whose work he had studied in the British Museum. This print comes from the folio of reproductions made directly from Beardsley's drawings published in about 1929. Utilising the expensive collotype process, these prints are much closer to the originals than the earlier line-block prints of the1896 edition of the book or the various, mostly very poor reproductions included in subsequent pirated printings. |
Associated object | E.295-1972 (Original) |
Bibliographic references |
|
Collection | |
Accession number | E.744-1945 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | February 27, 2007 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest