Aubrey Beardsley Part 7

76. POSTER FOR "THE COMEDY OF SIGHS," by Dr John Todhunter, at the Avenue Theatre, March 29th, 1894. Three-quarter length figure of woman in deep blue, standing behind a gauze curtain with light green round spots powdered over it, 28-3/4 4-3/4 inches. The same has since been printed, the original size, in black and white. The same reduced, and printed in blue on light green paper for the programme sold in the theatre: also printed in black on toned paper for the programme of Mr G. Bernard Shaw's play, "Arms and the Man," April 21st, 1894.

Also still further reduced, in black on pale mauve-pink paper for the wrapper of Mr W. B. Yeats's play, "The Land of Hearts' Desire."

Reproduced in _Idler_ magazine, March 1897; again in "Fifty Drawings,"

also in "Later Work." This was Aubrey Beardsley's first poster design.

1894.

77. POSTER FOR MR FISHER UNWIN'S "PSEUDONYM LIBRARY." Female figure in salmon-pink dress standing on the opposite side of the road to a second-hand book-store. The scheme of colouring--salmon-pink, orange, green, and black--was suggested to Aubrey Beardsley by a French poster. 29-1/2 13 inches.

The same reduced, in colours, to form an advertis.e.m.e.nt slip for insertion in books and magazines.

The same reduced, printed in black, 6 copies only, on j.a.panese vellum. Reproduced in "Fifty Drawings" and "Later Work." Also used as cover-design for the "Dream and the Business," by John Oliver Hobbes.

Similar motif, black and white drawing; exhibited at the New English Art Club Exhibition at the New Gallery. (Property of T. Fisher Unwin, Esq.)

78. POSTER FOR MR FISHER UNWIN'S CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Woman reading while seated in a groaning-chair; black purple. Reproduced in black in "Fifty Drawings" and "Later Work."

79. Poster Design. A lady and large sunflower, scheme of colouring purple and yellow. Unpublished. Purchased by Mr Fisher Unwin and destroyed accidentally in New York.

80. SKETCH PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST, head and shoulders, three-quarter face to left; in imaginary costume with V-shaped opening to his coat and high-shouldered sleeves; in charcoal. First published in _The Sketch_, April 14th, 1894, again in "Early Work."

81. SKETCH PORTRAIT OF HENRY HARLAND, head and shoulders, three-quarter face to right, in charcoal. First published in _The Sketch_, April 11th, 1894, again in "Early Work." (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

82. PORTRAIT OF JAMES M'NEILL WHISTLER. (Property of Walter Sickert, Esq.)

83. THE FAT WOMAN (a caricature of Mrs Whistler). First published in _To-Day_, May 12th, 1894, afterwards republished in "Fifty Drawings"

and "Later Work"; also in _Le Courrier Francais_, November 11th, 1894, with the t.i.tle "_Une Femme bien Nourrie_." (Formerly the property of the late Mrs Cyril Martineau (Miss K. Savile Clarke)).

84. WAITING, a haggard, expectant woman, wearing V-necked bodice and large black hat, seated in a restaurant, with a half-emptied wine-gla.s.s on a small round table before her; black-ink drawing, 7-3/8 3-1/2 inches, unpublished. (Property of Pickford Waller, Esq.)

85. MASKED PIERROT AND FEMALE FIGURE, water and gondolas in background, small square in black and white, published in _To-Day_, May 12th, 1894.

86. SALOME, A tragedy in one act. Translated by Lord Alfred Douglas from the French of Oscar Wilde. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894.

Pictured with the following designs by Aubrey Beardsley:----

I. The woman (or man) in the moon (Frontispiece).

Border Design for t.i.tle-page (two states, the first cancelled).

(Property of John Lane, Esq.)

Border Design for List of Pictures. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

II. The Peac.o.c.k Skirt. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

III. The Black Cape. A burlesque, subst.i.tuted for a drawing of John and Salome, which was printed but withheld, and subsequently published in "Early Work." (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

IV. A Platonic Lament. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

V. Enter Herodias (two states, the first cancelled). (The drawing in its original state the property of Herbert J. Pollit Esq.) A proof of this drawing in its first state, now the property of Frank Harris, Esq., is inscribed by the artist on the left-hand top corner:

"Because one figure was undressed This little drawing was suppressed.

It was unkind, but never mind, Perhaps it all was for the best."

VI. The Eyes of Herod. (Note one of Herod's white peac.o.c.ks.) (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

VII. The Stomach Dance. (The author makes Salome dance, barefooted, the Dance of the Seven Veils.) (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

VIII. The Toilette of Salome. Subst.i.tuted for a former drawing of the same subject, printed in two states but withheld, the second state subsequently published in "Early Work" (Property of Robert Ross, Esq.)

IX. The Dancer's Reward. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

X. The Climax. This is a revised and simpler version of the design which had appeared in the first number of _The Studio_.

Tailpiece. The corpse of Salome being coffined in a puff-powder box. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

NOS. I., IV., V., AND VI. of the above contain caricatures of Oscar Wilde.

XI. Small design, printed in gold on cloth, front cover of "Salome"; another, consisting of an elaboration of the artist's device, for the under side of cover.

XII. Study of a design of peac.o.c.k feathers for cover of "Salome," not used at the time, but subsequently reproduced for the first time in facsimile in "Early Work," and again as an ill.u.s.tration following the t.i.tle-page in reissue of "Salome" (John Lane, 1907); also in gold on light green cloth for ornament of the binding, and in olive green on orange-red for the paper cap. Also in gold on blue cloth for binding of "Under the Hill," 1904. (Property of John Lane, Esq.) This (1907) edition, moreover, contains the two ill.u.s.trations suppressed in the original edition, viz., "John and Salome" (Property of John Lane, Esq.), now placed in order as No. 8, and "The Toilet of Salome, II.," now placed as No. 13 (Property of John Lane, Esq.) and an original t.i.tle-page.

XIII. The Salome drawings were reproduced the actual size of the originals, and published in a portfolio. In this was included a design of Salome seated upon a settee. Described in "Early Work"

as "Maitresse d'Orchestre." (John Lane, 1907.)

87. DANCER, WITH DOMINO. (The property of His Honour Judge Evans.)

88. PLAYS, BY JOHN DAVIDSON. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894. Design on frontispiece to, containing portrait caricatures of Sir Augustus Harris, and Oscar Wilde and Henry Harland, black and white; the same design in gold on the cloth cover. Reproduced in "Early Work," and again, with Aubrey Beardsley's letter to the _Daily Chronicle_ on the subject, in "Under the Hill," 1904. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

Design for t.i.tle-Page of the above-named. Black and white; reproduced in "Early Work."

89. THE YELLOW BOOK, 1894 AND 1895.

I. Design for prospectus of the "Yellow Book": a woman examining books in a box at a bookstall: black on yellow paper. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

Vol. I., April 1894. Elkin Mathews and John Lane.

II. Design on front side of yellow cover. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

III. Design on under side of cover; the same repeated in the later volumes. (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

IV. Design on t.i.tle-page: a woman playing a piano in a meadow.

Reproduced, with Aubrey Beardsley's letter on the subject, to the _Pall Mall Budget_, in "Under the Hill" (1904). (Property of John Lane, Esq.)

V. L'Education Sentimentale: in line and wash.

VI. Night Piece.

VII. Portrait of Mrs Patrick Campbell in profile, to left in outline.

Formerly in possession of Oscar Wilde, now in National Gallery at Berlin.