Oscar Wilde's play Salome was first published in French in 1893. Almost immediately, Beardsley made this illustrative drawing speculatively and it was reproduced by line-block in the laudatory article about the artist which appeared in the first number of the new Studio Magazine published in April that year. On the strength of this design Wilde and his publisher John Lane commissioned Beardsley to make his celebrated set of illustrations for the English edition of 1894. Beardsley redrew this design for the book as The Climax, simplifying the forms and omitting the elaborate 'hairline' calligraphic flourishes that had characterised his earlier drawing style. The original drawing, to which he later and somewhat unsuccessfully added green water-colour washes, is now in Princeton University Library. This line-block print comes from a large group of reproductions of Beardsley's designs assembled in the 1890s by the art-critic Gleeson White, an expert on book-illustration and one of the artist's earliest suppoprters.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (made)
Date
1893 (made)
Artist/maker
Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent, born 1872 - died 1898 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Line-block print
Marks and inscriptions
J'ai baisé ta bouche Iokanaan.
Dimensions
Height: 22.8 cm, Width: 12.7 cm
Object history note
Oscar Wilde's play Salome was first published in French in 1893. Beardsley made this illustrative drawing speculatively and it was reproduced by line-block in the first number of the Studio Magazine, April 1893that year. On the strength of this design Wilde and his publisher John Lane commissioned Beardsley to make his celebrated set of illustrations for the English edition of 1894. Beardsley redrew this design for the book as The Climax, simplifying the forms and omitting the elaborate 'hairline' calligraphic flourishes that had characteried his earlier drawing style. The original drawing, to which he later and somewhat unsuccessfully added green water-colour washes, is now in Princeton University Library. This line-block print comes from a large group of reproductions of Beardsley's designs assembled in the 1890s by the art-critic Gleeson White, an expert on book-illustration and one of the artist's earliest suppoprters.
Descriptive line
Print of the design for The Climax from Oscar Wilde's Salome, England, 1893, Aubrey Beardsley
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Greenhalgh, Paul Ed., Art Nouveau : 1890 - 1914. London: V&A Publications, 2000. 464 p., 1.9pl, ill. ISBN 1851772774
Howard Coutts Emile Gallé and the Origins of Art Nouveau The Bowes Museum, 2007.
Exhibition catalogue
Brian Reade, Aubrey Beardsley, Studio Vista, London,1967. see: Cat.no. 261, p.333
Stephen Calloway, Aubrey Beardsley, V&A, London, 1998, p.59
Philippe Thiébaut, ed. Art Nouveau Revival Paris: Musee d'Orsay, 2009. ISBN: 978-2-35433-040-8.
Exhibition catalogue. Features on page 108.
Exhibition History
Art Nouveau Revival (Musée d'Orsay 19/10/2009-04/02/2010)
Aubrey Beardsley, 1998
Art Nouveau - 1890-1914
Art Nouveau - 1890-1914
Emile Gallé and the Origins of Art Nouveau (The Bowes Museum 20/01/2008-29/09/2008)
Art Nouveau - 1890-1914 (Victoria and Albert Museum 06/04/2000-30/07/2000)
Subjects depicted
John (Saint John the Baptist); Lilies; Salome; Blood
Categories
Prints; Christianity; Illustration; Designs; Books
Collection code
PDP
