Thursday 27 September 2012

Illustration: Aubrey Beardsley, Title page for Salome, 1894


Image source: http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/snod/ABSalTitle-page-WT.html

I chose this because of it's use of nature, bodies, eroticism (or grotesqueness), decoration and fashion, you get the sense Aubrey Beardsley knew just how much of everything to put into an image to get the overall vibe that was needed. I like that you can sort of feel the turn of the century Britain it was made in. The influence of the cultural situation he was making it in and the desire to celebrate beauty and appreciate decadence teamed together make the restraint (in the black and white and even how really well balanced they are, the hard and flat composition and how it managed to be so vogue at the time) and decorative, carefully placed but flourishing and brave looking style he used evoke the British-y satirical, skillful straining within whatever is holding a cultural movement back.
I like the symbolic looking use of natural things like feathers, bodies and plants and flagrant and bold use of other times' or places' styles, wrenching them into a style that is suitable for 1890s uses, the mix of ancient and modern seems quite British.
I also chose it because I sort of feel too well acquaited with images of his that are open and smooth, this one is still sensuous but more interesting and disjointed.
I find it hard to write about his work because I really like it.

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