Aubrey Beardsley: Imp of the Perverse

by Stanley Weintraub

At twenty, "the Fra Angelico of Satanism," as Roger Fry was to call Aubrey Beardsley, was working as an obscure clerk in a London life insurance company. Three years later he was the most notorious—and perhaps the most influential—artist in England. His controversial drawings for Oscar Wilde's Salome were so daring and different that someone quipped that Wilde's play illustrated Beardsley's art. His work as art editor of the two most famous magazines of the 1890's, The Yellow Book and The Savoy , consolidated his fame although he was unreasonably dragged into the Wilde scandal and nearly destroyed by it. By the time he produced his strikingly scabrous drawings for a pornographer publisher's Lysistrata he was dying, yet still incredibly productive. But he had already indelibly stamped the age with his name. In a front-page review in the New York Times Book Review in 1967, art critic John Russell wrote of Beardsley that "as a biography—a life's story" the book "needs no successsor." Aubrey Imp of the Perverse began as an updating of the original biography but new material at hand and the need to reinterpret Beardsley from the perspective of augmented life-records made a mere updating impractical, especially since the climate for publishing has become far more receptive to truth in biography, however explicit.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Biography

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Weintraub was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1929. He was the eldest child of Benjamin and Ray Segal Weintraub. He attended South Philadelphia High School, and then he attended West Chester State Teachers College (now West Chester University of Pennsylvania) where he received his B.S. in education in 1949. He continued his education at Temple University where he received his master's degree in English “in absentia,” as he was called to duty in the Korean War.

He received a commission as Army Second Lieutenant, and served with the Eighth Army in Korea receiving a Bronze Star.

After the War, he enrolled at Pennsylvania State University in September 1953; his doctoral dissertation “Bernard Shaw, Novelist” was accepted on May 6, 1956.

Except for visiting appointments, he remained at Penn State for all of his career, finally attaining the rank of Evan Pugh Professor of Arts and Humanities, with emeritus status on retirement in 2000. From 1970 to 1990 he was also Director of Penn State’s Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rare book -- first and last edition of Beardsley. It's not 'Imp' one -- this is a biography. I've been searching for this book and had given up until I found it in the depth of a yard sale on Telegraph Ave. :D
This book is a must to read if you ARE a fan of Beardsley's works and wants to know more about the artist himself. I must admit, I'm not too fond of Weintraub's writing style; however, details of his life is greatly noted.

[Celeste]

because so few people have added this book i feel like i should write a very in-depth, serious review but i need it to be known that i so rarely read nonfiction i don't know if i'm even capable of it. i enjoyed reading this especially because a lot of the middle was so chock full of 1890s literary drama which i thought was so fun. i do wish there had been more pictures, especially more instances where the pictures which were being described in the text were placed alongside that part of the text (SO many instances where i'd think ohh i really want to see that one!! and then it wasn't there). and i did take a 2 week long break in the middle of this book wherein i forgot a lot of the first half but considering that i picked it up on a whim in my school's library because i was looking at books of beardsley's artwork just for funsies and i was in a terrible reading slump after finishing the talented mr ripley i think this suited my book needs quite well.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can remember when Pelican Biographies first came out and seeing
them in the books shops. Now I wish I had bought "F. Scott Fitzgerald"
by Andrew Turnbull but back then I was discovering Victoriana and
only had eyes for "Beardsley" by Stanley Weintraub.Beardsley was the illustrator and forerunner of the Art Noveau movement whose weirdly ornate and at times almost pornographic drawings were just as much a part of the "fin de siecle" of London society as Oscar Wilde.
Born into an impoverished family but whose mother saw his precocity
and made sure that both he and his older sister, Mabel, were
surrounded by good literature and music, he spent most of his
childhood at school where he seemed to find sympathetic masters and
friends who encouraged him to continue with his drawings. When he was
18 he took advantage of Burne-Jones' open house to view his work and
the eccentric Pre-Raphaelite artist became his mentor.
Hard to believe that by the age of 25 he was dead of the consumption
that always plagued him but many of the people who wrote of their
first meeting with Beardsley often described him as looking "not
long for this world". Also awful was the fact that he spent at least
3 years as a clerk in an insurance office planning his drawings only
at night with only candles to see by - it didn't do his health any
favours.
Oscar Wilde described his face as looking like "an ivory hatchet"
with a shock of green hair (it was a carroty colour). He also had
a great confidence in his own ability and not having much time for
people who didn't share his odd view of the world - in other words
fame went to his head and he became insufferable. Still when J.M.
Dent decided to commission him to illustrate Mallory's "Morte
d'Arthur" it must have been a terrific boost to the 19 year old
(who actually looked a lot younger than his years due to his sickly
and thin appearance).
Even though Beardsley was linked to Oscar Wilde by the illustrations
he did for Salome and later to the detriment of his reputation - the
two didn't get on. Observers said Wilde was as easy going as he was
witty but Beardsley was a dandy and a poseur. Wilde quipped "his
art was cruel and evil - so like dear Aubrey"!! Beardsley's house
was in keeping with the Avant Garde and featured orange walls with
black trim and doors, taken from a book that influenced him greatly
- "A Rebours" - most people were shocked the first time they saw it.
When Wilde was arrested, Beardsley's reputation
went down the drain - he was sacked from "The Yellow Book" which
didn't survive long without his notoriety. After a time in limbo
he was hired as Art Editor for a new quarterly to be called "The
Savoy" which bought him into a new group of earnest writers -
George Bernard Shaw (Beardsley tried his hand at his first poster
for Shaw's play "Arms and the Man" and the poster garnered more
attention than the play which wasn't a success the first time around),
W.B. Yeats and Ernest Dowson. Unfortunately when the publisher
Leonard Smithers decided to go to a monthly format that was the
beginning of the end but it did help to bring Beardsley back into
public favour again. At the end of his life Beardsley converted
to Catholicism and one of his friends, Rothenstein, found him
changed in his nature for the better, being kinder and gentler, a
new self.
Unlike one reviewer I liked the writing style. Weintraub managed
to find a lot of interesting detail about the young consumptive who
lived mainly for his work - even the quite astonishing titbit that
he may have had an affair with his sister. The end chapters are to
do with Beardsley's legacy and a nice eulogy written by Max
Beerbohm. Just not enough pictures!!

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book of the quirky artist.