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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case TOPIC, Shelf 15, Box LGBTQ

Deathbed

Drawing
1981 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Single cell on two sheets, showing the deathbed scene of an animated film about Aubrey Beardsley, depicting the artist lying the centre of a double bed, with eyes closed, holding a rosary. The floor of the room is made up of square black and white tiles. Acetate overlays depict medical aids around the bed. Labelled on the upper sheet and overlay with artist's name, and 'B' on the undersheet.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleDeathbed (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Black and white poster paint on acetate film punched with peg holes for registration on the lower margins
Brief description
Drawing entitled 'Deathbed' for an animation by Christopher Charles James about Aubrey Beardsley. Great Britain, 1981.
Physical description
Single cell on two sheets, showing the deathbed scene of an animated film about Aubrey Beardsley, depicting the artist lying the centre of a double bed, with eyes closed, holding a rosary. The floor of the room is made up of square black and white tiles. Acetate overlays depict medical aids around the bed. Labelled on the upper sheet and overlay with artist's name, and 'B' on the undersheet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26.6cm
  • Width: 33cm
Dimensions taken from departmental notes
Object history
The film for which this was made was entitled 'After Beardsley' (1981). It was a 15 minute animation shown on Channel 4, and also French and Swiss television. The film was drawn in the style of Beardsley and attempts to show how he may have pictured the world 80 to 90 years after his death.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
In the artist's own words describing the film: 'The film After Beardsley attempts to depict today's world through Beardsley's eyes and in his drawing style. Part 1 sets the scene by showing some of Beardsley's better known drawings, some of which take on a different guise later in the film, along with photographs of him, courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Museum. In Part 2, Beardsley is 'resurrected' from his death bed and begins to walk through time to the present. On his journey he witnesses the evolution of the car and of air and sea travel, then climbs a phallic mountain before descending into 20th century New York City. Part 3 reveals what he finds there...The ghost of Aubrey Beardsley explores the urban jungle of New York City where, amongst other things, he sees Bob Dylan as a satyr sitting by an iconic 1959 Chevy, and Lenny Bruce being injected with heroin. He is then beckoned by Patti Smith (as Beardsley's Messalina) into a hospital room where he finds himself hooked up to life support equipment. His hospital persona shows his ghost the horrors of the present day - overpopulation, pestilence starvation, and death. Via John Lennon, he sees the horrors of a nuclear winter. The premise of the film is that, if Beardsley had been alive today instead of the 1890s, modern medicine would have kept him alive, but that, having had a glimpse of where the world was heading, he may have chosen to die anyway.'
Collection
Accession number
E.431-1982

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
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