Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler. Beardsley's contribution to the development of the Art Nouveau and poster styles was significant despite his early death from tuberculosis. He is one of the important Modern Style figures.
Portrait of Beardsley by Frederick Hollyer, 1893
Aubrey Beardsley by Jacques-Émile Blanche, oil on canvas, 1895 (National Portrait Gallery, London)
The Barge, illustration to The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope, 1896
The Black Cat, 1894–5
Aestheticism was an art movement in the late 19th century that valued the appearance of literature, music, fonts and the arts over their functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be produced to be beautiful, rather than to teach a lesson, create a parallel, or perform another didactic purpose, a sentiment best illustrated by the slogan "art for art's sake." Aestheticism flourished in the 1870s and 1880s, gaining prominence and the support of notable writers such as Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.
The Peacock Room, designed in the Anglo-Japanese style by James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Edward Godwin, one of the most famous and comprehensive examples of Aesthetic interior design
Canaries by Albert Joseph Moore, ca. 1875–1880. Moore was among a group of artists whose work was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in London.
“Lady Lilith” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Aesthetic Brass Table by Bradley & Hubbard Company (see A Brass Menagerie, Metalwork of the Aesthetic Movement)