AUBREY BEARDSLEY (1872-1898) THE YELLOW BOOK. 1894. 253/8x83/4 inches. Geo H. Walker & Co., Boston. Condition B-: creases, cracks and tears in image; loss in left margin. Framed. Aubrey Beardsley, beloved and reviled in Britain as the most visible rebel against staid Victorian mores, began work as art editor for the Yellow Book in 1894. His decorative Art Nouveau style, considered grotesque and vulgar by many, was vastly imitated in America, and added life, spice, excitement and novelty to American poster sidings. Writing in The Poster in November 1900, Scotson-Clark pointed out that, "Until the introduction of the Beardsley work, all posters seen were . . . stippled until all life had been taken out of them." By using such a well known, controversial artist, Copeland and Day ensured that their ads would get a lot of attention; a tactic many advertising companies follow to this day. A decadent aesthete: "The most striking thing about Beardsley's work, and the source of its immediate fame, is the intense, erotic (or better, narcissistic) atmosphere it exudes. Once the shock of recognition passes it can be seen that Beardsley was an incredibly assured draughtsman and a perversely inventive designer" (Word & Image p. 18). His posters reflected a "brilliant blending of legend [text] and illustration" (Keay p. 7) and are considered to be one of the primary catalysts of the poster explosion in America in 1894. This curvaceous, sultry woman must have been the kind of Beardsley image contemporary critics loved to hate, especially with her eye-catching brooch which appears to replace her cleavage on her vast expanse of breast. A year earlier Beardsley used this image on a poster for children's books. Maitres 1900 p. 105.
