A Fine Line

Brighton artist Aubrey Beardsley, who died 120 years ago aged 25, was known for combining the grotesque and gorgeous. STEVE ROBERTS examines his legacy

- Steve Roberts

AUBREY BEARDSLEY’S art emphasised the grotesque and his influence would last far longer than his own short lifespan. Sadly, he died aged just 25. In the late19th century fame was no safeguard against the ravages of tuberculosis.

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was born in Brighton on 21 August 1872 to father Vincent, a tradesman’s son living off an inheritance, which he squandered, and mother Ellen Pitt, the daughter of an army surgeon-major. It was a nominally well-to-do family that was often almost destitute. Diagnosed as tubercular at the infantile age of seven, Beardsley developed to be fragile and sickly.

Beardsley’s childhood home was in 12 Buckingham Road, now number 31. He was born here, although there is a plaque around the corner in West Hill Place, which proclaims him, ‘Master of Line’. Nearer the seafront, at 21 Lower Rock Gardens, lived his great-aunt, where Beardsley and elder sister Mabel stayed when their mother was too ill to care for them.

Not all of the artist’s life was spent in Brighton. In 1883 the family moved to London. In 1884 young Aubrey was reputedly lauded as an ‘infant musical phenomenon’, when appearing in concerts aged 12. In 1885 he began a stint at Brighton Grammar School, where he spent the next four years. It was here his artwork hit the public domain, with cartoons, drawings and poems appearing in the school magazine, Past and Present.

Any thoughts Beardsley had of taking up art professionally were held in abeyance while he earned a crust. In 1888 he started in an architect’s office, then worked for a fire insurance company. It wasn’t until 1891 that he took up art as a career. In 1892 Beardsley attended classes at Westminster School of Art, following artist Sir Edward Burne-Jones’ recommendation. His first commission came in 1893 when he was asked to illustrate Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.