Who was Aubrey Beardsley?
Aubrey Beardsley was born on 21 August, 1872, in Brighton, England. The family, of middle and upper middle class origins, was often nearly destitute. His father, Vincent, having lost his inherited fortune, worked irregularly at London breweries. Beardsley’s mother, Ellen Pitt, provided a slender income by giving piano lessons. Both Beardsley and his sister, Mabel–who later became an actress–were considered artistic and musical prodigies. His health was always fragile. At the age of nine, he had his first reported attack of tuberculosis, the disease which would reduce him to an invalid many times and eventually cause his death. In 1884 his mother became too ill to care for him and his sister and they were packed off to live with a nearby aunt. Aubrey attended the Bristol Grammar School for four years as a boarder, where he started developing his talents by drawing caricatures of his teachers. Five years later, in 1889, he was sent to London to work as a clerk in an insurance office. H
Graphic Artist noted for his sensual style and a major figure in the Aestheticism Movement. Date and Place of Birth: 21st August 1872, Brighton, Sussex, England Family Background: Vincent, his father, came from a long line of Jewellers in Clerkenwell. Sued for breach of promise by another woman on his wedding day he lost all his property but continued to cling to the rank of gentleman. He had to find employment as a brewery clerk. His mother Ellen came from the well-to-do family of an ex-indian Army Officer Surgeon and felt that she had married breneath her. There was often friction between his parents. Education: Westminster School of Art for a few months after a recommendation by Sir Edward Burne Jones. Chronology/Biography of Aubrey Beardsley: 1893: Commissioned to illustrate “Morte D’Arthur” by Sir Thomas Malory. 1894: Appointed Art Editor and illustrator of “The Yellow Book”. His illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” achieved national notoriety. 1895: Even though he was not a h
