A Portfolio of Drawings Illustrating Salome by Oscar Wilde -
Aubrey Beardsley
1912 - John Lane, London
Aubrey Beardsley was just 21 years old when he produced the drawings for Oscar Wilde's play Salome. They were first published in The Studio magazine in 1893. These illustrations launched Beardsley from obscurity to international fame almost overnight. More importantly, they marked the beginning of a new era in the arts: these are commonly held to be the first works to develop an Art Nouveau style.
This scarce portfolio contains sixteen large black and white plates of the Salome illustrations, together with a separate list of plates, all printed on Japanese vellum, and loose as issued [plates size 34.2 x 26.9 cm]. Without the ‘Design for Title Page’ plate.
Housed in publisher's portfolio of half cream vellum over olive green paper boards, front panel titled in gilt ‘Aubrey Beardsley’s Illustrations to Salome’ and with the Beardsley designed rose-bush motif from the 1894 edition blocked in rose gold. In the play, Salome, the stepdaughter of King Herod, falls in love with the prophet Iokanaan (John the Baptist). He cruelly rejects her, but she swears that one day she will kiss him. By performing the 'dance of the seven veils' for Herod, she tempts him into granting her a request. She asks to be brought the severed head of Iokanaan. When her wish is fulfilled, Salome grabs the head and kisses it passionately. The Climax is the aftermath of this grisly scene. Beardsley has drawn Salome gazing with sadistic lust into the face of the butchered Iokanaan. She hangs suspended in a nightmarish abstract setting, surrounded by distorted flower forms and creeping 'whiplash' lines. The delicacy and grace of the drawing create a dramatic contrast with the horror of the scene.
Beardsley used the line-block printing process, which can only reproduce areas of black and white. Beardsley kept the limitations of this method in mind when creating his work. Working with such limited means gave his work its striking simplicity, and meant that it lost none of its impact in reproduction. The low cost of line-block printing made his work widely available, and so Beardsley's reputation spread with astonishing speed.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) received his first commission in 1894. His short career lasted from this commission to his tragically early death of tuberculosis in 1898 at the age of 25. Beardsley is principally known for his work as a book illustrator. With little formal art training he evolved a unique style, characterised by black and white work and delicate line drawing. He combined this with an unconventional approach to illustration where he did not slavishly follow the text but gave full rein to his imagination: this was particularly the case with Salome. Beardsley placed aesthetic interpretation over historical correctness, preferring the illustrations to be, as he said, 'simply beautiful but irrelevant'.
Although Beardsley was closely linked in the public mind with Oscar Wilde they did not work closely together even on this commission, however Wilde was certainly aware of Beardsley’s correct interpretation and depiction of Salomé that he had seen published in The Studio, in April of 1893, after which Wilde presented a copy of his own play and wrote inside “For the only artist who, besides myself, knows what the dance of the seven veils is and can see that invisible dance”. Later on, Beardsley deeply resented the fact that the Wilde scandal of 1895 cost him his editorship of The Yellow Book. This said, in Beardsley's own work he often sought to overturn social and aesthetic conventions.
The public was outraged when the English edition of the work was published with its illustrations and Wilde himself was taken aback when he laid eyes upon Beardsley's completed drawings. Not only did he find their style inappropriate, but the illustrations had caused such public controversy with their fascinating, grotesque appeal that Wilde was concerned they would overshadow his work and "reduce the text to the role of 'illustrating Aubrey's illustrations'" [Kravec 30].
In the The Toilette of Salome I illustration Beardsley did make reference to the Aesthetic style that Wilde promoted, including the E.W. Godwin-style dressing table and, in the earlier version, Japanese and Islamic ceramics. While Beardsley and Wilde shared an interest in the decadence of this femme fatale, Beardsley's first version (The Toilette of Salome II) had outrageous sexual references, unacceptable to both the author and publisher. [V&A].
List of Plates:-
I The Woman in the Moon
III Cover Design - [Suppressed in the edition of 1S94]
IV Design for the List of Pictures
V The Peacock Skirt
VI The Black Cape
VII A Platonic Lament
VIII John and Salome - [Suppressed in the edition of 1894]
IX Enter Herodias - [Altered in the edition of 1894]
X The Eyes of Herod
XI The Stomach Dance
XII The Toilette of Salome - I
XIII The Toilette of Salome - II [Suppressed in the edition of 1894]
XIV The Dancer's Reward
XV The Climax
XVI Salome on Settle
XVII Cul de Lampe
Reference: The Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Nouveau: A Study Room Resource. Lasner 80A (A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of Aubrey Beardsley. Linda Zatlin, Wilde, Beardsley, and the Making of Salome. Galletin collection at Princeton. Showalter. Mason, S. Wilde. Cowan & Clark, Wilde and Wildeiana. Reade, Beardsley, Notes 272, 284, 286, 288-90, Plates 270, 274-87, 289-90, see also Plate 271 (and Note 273) showing front cover of Salome, the gilt block of which was used for front panel of portfolio.
Folio (35.1 x 28 cm), contents 16 plates loose as issued (without Plate II ‘Design for Title Page’), and list of plates. Plate size 34.2 x 26.9 cm, each numbered from I to XVII to the lower left corner. Portfolio in half cream vellum (front panel, left hand side Vellum = 6.8cm width, corners 6cm width), over dark olive green paper boards, lacking green silk ties as is commonly encountered.
Dating is difficult, as two sets where published in limited numbers and without any date printed, and bibliographies are vague. Of the 1906 and 1912 printings, we believe this is from 1912. Condition: Fine, slightly toned plates, in very good portfolio, vellum with some soiling, lacking silk ties, lacking plate II Design for Title Page , Ref: 112137 Price: HK$ 12,000
This scarce portfolio contains sixteen large black and white plates of the Salome illustrations, together with a separate list of plates, all printed on Japanese vellum, and loose as issued [plates size 34.2 x 26.9 cm]. Without the ‘Design for Title Page’ plate.
Housed in publisher's portfolio of half cream vellum over olive green paper boards, front panel titled in gilt ‘Aubrey Beardsley’s Illustrations to Salome’ and with the Beardsley designed rose-bush motif from the 1894 edition blocked in rose gold. In the play, Salome, the stepdaughter of King Herod, falls in love with the prophet Iokanaan (John the Baptist). He cruelly rejects her, but she swears that one day she will kiss him. By performing the 'dance of the seven veils' for Herod, she tempts him into granting her a request. She asks to be brought the severed head of Iokanaan. When her wish is fulfilled, Salome grabs the head and kisses it passionately. The Climax is the aftermath of this grisly scene. Beardsley has drawn Salome gazing with sadistic lust into the face of the butchered Iokanaan. She hangs suspended in a nightmarish abstract setting, surrounded by distorted flower forms and creeping 'whiplash' lines. The delicacy and grace of the drawing create a dramatic contrast with the horror of the scene.
Beardsley used the line-block printing process, which can only reproduce areas of black and white. Beardsley kept the limitations of this method in mind when creating his work. Working with such limited means gave his work its striking simplicity, and meant that it lost none of its impact in reproduction. The low cost of line-block printing made his work widely available, and so Beardsley's reputation spread with astonishing speed.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898) received his first commission in 1894. His short career lasted from this commission to his tragically early death of tuberculosis in 1898 at the age of 25. Beardsley is principally known for his work as a book illustrator. With little formal art training he evolved a unique style, characterised by black and white work and delicate line drawing. He combined this with an unconventional approach to illustration where he did not slavishly follow the text but gave full rein to his imagination: this was particularly the case with Salome. Beardsley placed aesthetic interpretation over historical correctness, preferring the illustrations to be, as he said, 'simply beautiful but irrelevant'.
Although Beardsley was closely linked in the public mind with Oscar Wilde they did not work closely together even on this commission, however Wilde was certainly aware of Beardsley’s correct interpretation and depiction of Salomé that he had seen published in The Studio, in April of 1893, after which Wilde presented a copy of his own play and wrote inside “For the only artist who, besides myself, knows what the dance of the seven veils is and can see that invisible dance”. Later on, Beardsley deeply resented the fact that the Wilde scandal of 1895 cost him his editorship of The Yellow Book. This said, in Beardsley's own work he often sought to overturn social and aesthetic conventions.
The public was outraged when the English edition of the work was published with its illustrations and Wilde himself was taken aback when he laid eyes upon Beardsley's completed drawings. Not only did he find their style inappropriate, but the illustrations had caused such public controversy with their fascinating, grotesque appeal that Wilde was concerned they would overshadow his work and "reduce the text to the role of 'illustrating Aubrey's illustrations'" [Kravec 30].
In the The Toilette of Salome I illustration Beardsley did make reference to the Aesthetic style that Wilde promoted, including the E.W. Godwin-style dressing table and, in the earlier version, Japanese and Islamic ceramics. While Beardsley and Wilde shared an interest in the decadence of this femme fatale, Beardsley's first version (The Toilette of Salome II) had outrageous sexual references, unacceptable to both the author and publisher. [V&A].
List of Plates:-
I The Woman in the Moon
III Cover Design - [Suppressed in the edition of 1S94]
IV Design for the List of Pictures
V The Peacock Skirt
VI The Black Cape
VII A Platonic Lament
VIII John and Salome - [Suppressed in the edition of 1894]
IX Enter Herodias - [Altered in the edition of 1894]
X The Eyes of Herod
XI The Stomach Dance
XII The Toilette of Salome - I
XIII The Toilette of Salome - II [Suppressed in the edition of 1894]
XIV The Dancer's Reward
XV The Climax
XVI Salome on Settle
XVII Cul de Lampe
Reference: The Victoria and Albert Museum, Art Nouveau: A Study Room Resource. Lasner 80A (A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of Aubrey Beardsley. Linda Zatlin, Wilde, Beardsley, and the Making of Salome. Galletin collection at Princeton. Showalter. Mason, S. Wilde. Cowan & Clark, Wilde and Wildeiana. Reade, Beardsley, Notes 272, 284, 286, 288-90, Plates 270, 274-87, 289-90, see also Plate 271 (and Note 273) showing front cover of Salome, the gilt block of which was used for front panel of portfolio.
Folio (35.1 x 28 cm), contents 16 plates loose as issued (without Plate II ‘Design for Title Page’), and list of plates. Plate size 34.2 x 26.9 cm, each numbered from I to XVII to the lower left corner. Portfolio in half cream vellum (front panel, left hand side Vellum = 6.8cm width, corners 6cm width), over dark olive green paper boards, lacking green silk ties as is commonly encountered.
Dating is difficult, as two sets where published in limited numbers and without any date printed, and bibliographies are vague. Of the 1906 and 1912 printings, we believe this is from 1912. Condition: Fine, slightly toned plates, in very good portfolio, vellum with some soiling, lacking silk ties, lacking plate II Design for Title Page , Ref: 112137 Price: HK$ 12,000