Aubrey Beardsley – Illustrations for le Morte d’Arthur
| Onder redactie van | : Edmund V. Gillon Jr. |
| Uitgever | : Dover Publications, Inc. New York |
| Uitgegeven in | : 1972 |
| Bladzijden | : 171 |
| ISBN | : 0-486-22348-5 |
Tekst achterzijde boek:
In the case of Aubrey Beardsley, whose artistic career was cut drastically short by premature death, his first serious creation, the illustrations for the Dent edition of Le Morte Darthur (London, 1893-1894), was literally his first masterpiece. WEith them he captured the critical attention of the international art world and fired the imagination of succeeding generations of artists, These startling drawings, inventive, decorative and anchantingly bizarre, are reproduced in complete facsimile in this unique volume. They are available in no other book.
Le Morte Darthur was not only Beardsley’s first major commission, but the work that was to launch the now-famous “Beardsley-look.” All told there are nearly 585 chapter openings, borders, initials, ornaments, and full- or double-page illustrations, and as a collection they testify to the dazzling power and imagination of this graphic artist.
Le Morte Darthur was also the first of Beardsley”s unforgettable line creations to shock fin de siècle society and revolutionize its art. Perhaps it was the disparity between the medievalist Maolry and the modern satirist Beardsley; but more than likely it was Beardsley’s own strange interpretation of Malory, which produced a Le Morte Darthur such as had never been seen, filled with fauns and saturs lurking behind trees, weird Japanese-inspired ornaments adorning figures, and a greater nudity and outright sexuality than usually associated with Middle Age themes. Perhaps it was also the daintiness of execution, the elaborate decoratrive effect Beardsley achieved that altered the appearance and tastes of the fin de siècle. Regardless of reasons, after the initial period of shock and indignation, Beardsley became the best-known artist in England, and his work even today profoundly affects both our conception and rendering of decorative art.
A Dover original (1972). First modern reprinting of complete art and selected pages of text of Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, published by J.M. Dent & Co., London, 1893-1894.
De afbeeldingen uit deze uitgave worden gebruikt op de volgende pagina: Morte d’Arthur
