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{{Short description|English illustrator and author (1872–1898)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Aubrey Beardsley
| image            = Aubrey Beardsley by Frederick Hollyer, 1893 (cropped).jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = Portrait by [[Frederick Hollyer]], 1893
| birth_name       = Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1872|8|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Brighton]], [[Sussex]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1898|3|16|1872|8|21|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Menton]], France
| resting_place    = Cimetière du Vieux-Château, [[Menton]], France<ref>Bertrand Beyern. ''Guide des tombes d'hommes célèbres''. Paris: Le Cherche Midi, 2008. {{ISBN|978-2-7491-2169-7}}</ref>
| field            = [[Illustration]], [[graphics]]/[[graphic arts]]
| training         = [[Westminster School of Art]]
| movement         = [[Art Nouveau]], [[aestheticism]]
| works            = ''[[The Climax (illustration)|The Climax]]''
| patrons          = 
}}

'''Aubrey Vincent Beardsley''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɪər|d|z|l|i}} {{respell|BEERDZ|lee}}; 21 August 1872{{snd}}16 March 1898) was an English [[illustrator]] and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by [[Woodblock printing in Japan|Japanese woodcuts]], and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the [[Aestheticism|aesthetic]] movement which also included [[Oscar Wilde]] and [[James McNeill Whistler]]. Beardsley's contribution to the development of the [[Art Nouveau]] and [[poster art|poster]] styles was significant despite his early death from [[tuberculosis]]. He is one of the important [[Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style)|Modern Style]] figures.

== Early life, education, and early career ==
[[File:Blanche Beardsley.jpg|thumb|upright|''Aubrey Beardsley'' by [[Jacques-Émile Blanche]], oil on canvas, 1895 ([[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]], London)]]

Beardsley was born in Brighton, [[Sussex]], England, on 21 August 1872 and christened on 24 October 1872.<ref>"England, Births and Christenings, 1538–1975," index, FamilySearch, accessed 4 April 2012), [https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/J9ZP-C6X Aubrey Vincent Beardsley] (1872).</ref> His father, Vincent Paul Beardsley (1839–1909), was the son of a [[Clerkenwell]] jeweller;<ref>{{harvnb|Brophy|1968|p=85}}</ref><ref name="epsomandewellhistoryexplorer">{{cite web|url=https://eehe.org.uk/?p=24057|website=Epsom & Ewell History Explorer|title=Beardsley, Aubrey, ''Artist'', Part 1 – The Formative Years}}</ref> Vincent had no trade himself (partly owing to tuberculosis, from which his own father had died aged only 40),<ref>Brophy, Brigid (1976). ''Beardsley and His World'', Harmony Books, p. 12.</ref><ref>Aubrey Beardsley: Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1966 [20 May – 18 September] Catalogue of the Original Drawings, Letters, Manuscripts, Paintings, and of Books, Posters, Photographs, Documents, Etc, H.M. Stationery Office, 1966</ref> and relied on a private income from an inheritance that he received from his maternal grandfather, a property developer, when he was 21.<ref>{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998|p=8}}</ref> Vincent's wife, Ellen Agnus Pitt (1846–1932), was the daughter of Surgeon-Major William Pitt of the Indian Army. The Pitts were a well-established and respected family in Brighton, and Beardsley's mother married a man of lesser social status than might have been expected. Soon after their wedding, Vincent was obliged to sell some of his property in order to settle a claim for his [[breach of promise of marriage]] from another woman, the widow of a clergyman,<ref name="Sturgis3">{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998|p=3}}</ref> who claimed that he had promised to marry her.<ref>{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998|p=10}}</ref> At the time of his birth, Beardsley's family, which included his sister [[Mabel Beardsley|Mabel]] who was one year older, were living in Ellen's familial home at 12&nbsp;Buckingham Road.<ref>The house numbers in Buckingham Road were later changed, and the old 12 is now 31.</ref><ref name="Sturgis3" /> At the age of seven, Beardsley contracted tuberculosis.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Farren |first1=Jen |last2=McCain |first2=Sandy |title=Aubrey Beardsley Art, Bio, Ideas |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/beardsley-aubrey/ |website=The Art Story |access-date=26 July 2022}}</ref>

With the loss of Vincent Beardsley's fortune soon after his son's birth, the family settled in London in 1883, where Vincent would work first for the West India & Panama Telegraph Company, then irregularly as a clerk at breweries;<ref>{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998|p=11}}</ref><ref name="epsomandewellhistoryexplorer" /> they would spend the next 20 years in rented accommodation, battling poverty. Ellen took to presenting herself as the "victim of a ''mésalliance''".<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1821|title=Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent (1872–1898)|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1821|last1=Crawford|first1=Alan}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998|p=15}}</ref> In 1884, Aubrey appeared in public as an "infant musical phenomenon", playing at several concerts with his sister.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent|volume=3|pages=577–578}}</ref> In January 1885, he began to attend [[Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School]], where he spent the next four years. His first poems, drawings, and cartoons appeared in print in ''Past and Present'', the school's magazine. In 1888, he obtained a post in an architect's office and afterwards one in the Guardian Life and Fire Insurance Company. In 1891, under the advice of [[Edward Burne-Jones|Sir Edward Burne-Jones]] and [[Pierre Puvis de Chavannes]], he took up art as a profession. In 1892, he attended the classes at the [[Westminster School of Art]], then under Professor [[Fred Brown (artist)|Fred Brown]].{{sfn|Armstrong|1901}}<ref name="EB1911" />

== Work ==

Beardsley travelled to Paris in 1892, where he discovered the poster art of [[Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec]] and the Parisian fashion for Japanese prints. His first commission was ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'' by [[Thomas Malory]] (1893), illustrated for the publishing house [[J. M. Dent|J.M. Dent and Company]].<ref name=Souter>{{cite book |last1=Souter |first1=Nick |last2=Souter |first2=Tessa |title=The Illustration Handbook: A Guide to the World's Greatest Illustrators |year=2012 |publisher=Oceana |isbn=978-1-84573-473-2 |page=41}}</ref> In 1894, a new translation of [[Lucian]]'s ''True History'', with illustrations by Beardsley,  [[William Strang]], and [[Joseph Benwell Clark|J. B. Clark]], was privately printed in an edition of 251 copies.<ref>“Beardsley (Aubrey Vincent)” in  T. Bose, Paul Tiessen, eds., ''Bookman's Catalogue'' Vol. 1 A-L: The Norman Colbeck Collection (UBC Press, 1987), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4DUL-RazzhgC&pg=PA41 p. 41]</ref>

Beardsley had six years of creative output, which can be divided into several periods, identified by the form of his signature. In the early period, his work is mostly unsigned. During 1891 and 1892, he progressed to using his initials A.V.B. In mid-1892, the period of ''Le Morte d'Arthur'' and ''The Bon Mots'', he used a Japanese-influenced mark that became progressively more graceful, sometimes accompanied by A.B. in block capitals.<ref name="Crown Publishers, Inc" />

[[File:Beardsley-peacockskirt.PNG|thumb|upright|left|''[[The Peacock Skirt]]'', 1893]]
He co-founded ''[[The Yellow Book]]'' with American writer [[Henry Harland]], and for the first four editions, he served as art editor and produced the cover designs and many illustrations for the magazine. He was aligned with [[Aestheticism]], the British counterpart of [[Decadent movement|Decadence]] and [[Symbolism (movement)|Symbolism]]. Most of his images are done in ink and feature large dark areas contrasted with large blank ones as well as areas of fine detail contrasted with areas with none at all.

[[File:The Barge - Aubrey Beardsley.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Barge'', illustration to ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]'' by [[Alexander Pope]], 1896]]

Beardsley was the most controversial artist of the [[Art Nouveau]] era, renowned for his dark and perverse images and grotesque erotica, which were the main themes of his later work. He satirized [[Victorian morality|Victorian values regarding sex]], which at the time highly valued respectability, and men's fear of female superiority, as the [[History of feminism#19th century|women's movement]] made gains in economic rights and occupational and educational opportunities by the 1880s.<ref name="Smith">{{cite web|url=http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1992-3/smith-e.htm |title=The Art of Aubrey Beardsley |publisher=Loyola University |year=1992 |accessdate=24 October 2015|author=Eric Smith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125050013/http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1992-3/smith-e.htm |archive-date = November 25, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Victorian web">{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/beardsley/goff12.html |title=A Mirror for Salome: Beardsley's The Climax |publisher=Victorian Web |date=22 April 2009 |accessdate=24 October 2015}}</ref>

His illustrations were in black and white against a white background. Some of his drawings, inspired by Japanese [[Shunga (art)|shunga]] artwork, featured enormous genitalia. His most famous erotic illustrations concerned themes of history and mythology; these include his illustrations for a privately printed edition of [[Aristophanes]]' ''[[Lysistrata]]'' and his drawings for [[Oscar Wilde]]'s play ''[[Salome (play)|Salome]]'', which eventually premiered in Paris in 1896. Other major illustration projects included an 1896 edition of ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]'' by [[Alexander Pope]].<ref name=Souter />

[[File:Aubrey Beardsley - Edgar Poe 2.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Black Cat (short story)|The Black Cat]]'', 1894–5]]
He also produced extensive illustrations for books and magazines (e.g., for a deluxe edition of Sir [[Thomas Malory]]'s ''[[Le Morte d'Arthur]]'') and worked for magazines such as ''[[The Studio (magazine)|The Studio]]'' and ''[[The Savoy (periodical)|The Savoy]]'', of which he was a co-founder. As a co-founder of ''The Savoy'', Beardsley was able to pursue his writing as well as illustration, and a number of his writings, including ''[[Under the Hill]]'' (a story based on the [[Tannhäuser]] legend) and "The Ballad of a Barber" appeared in the magazine.<ref>{{cite web |title= The Life of Aubrey Beardsley |work= Victorian Web |url= http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/engl204-1.3.4The-Life-of-Aubrey-Beardsley.pdf |access-date= 8 May 2012}}</ref>

Beardsley was a [[Caricature|caricaturist]] and did some political cartoons, mirroring Wilde's irreverent wit in art. Beardsley's work reflected the [[decadence]] of his era and his influence was enormous, clearly visible in the work of the French Symbolists, the [[poster art|Poster Art]] Movement of the 1890s and the work of many later-period artists such as [[Frank C. Papé]] and [[Harry Clarke]]. Some alleged works of Beardsley's were published in a book titled ''Fifty Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, Selected from the Collection of Mr. H.S. Nicols''. They were later discovered to be forgeries, distinguishable by their almost pornographic erotic elements rather than Beardsley's subtler use of sexuality.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Symons |first1=Aurthus |title=The Collected Drawings of Aubrey Beardsley |date=1967 |publisher=Crescent Books Inc. |location=New York |pages=v}}</ref>

Beardsley often hid obscene details in his work; publishers took to examining works with a magnifying glass before publication.<ref>{{cite|title=Beardsley, Aubrey – Artist|publisher=Epsom & Ewell History Explorer|first=Linda|last=Jackson|url=https://eehe.org.uk/24057/beardsley/|access-date=2 October 2025}}</ref>

Beardsley's work continued to cause controversy in Britain long after his death. During an exhibition of Beardsley's prints held at the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] in London in 1966, a private gallery in London was raided by the police for exhibiting copies of the same prints on display at the museum and the owner was charged under obscenity laws.<ref>Elizabeth Guffey, ''Retro: The Culture of Revival'' (London: Reaktion Books, 2006) p.7</ref>

== Personal life ==
[[File:Aubrey Beardsley ca. 1895.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Aubrey Beardsley, photograph {{Circa|1894}}–1895]]
Beardsley was a public as well as private eccentric. He said "I have one aim—the grotesque. If I am not grotesque, I am nothing." Wilde said Beardsley had "a face like a silver hatchet, and grass green hair".<ref>Kingston, Angela. ''Oscar Wilde as a Character in Victorian Fiction''. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. {{ISBN|9780230600232}}</ref> Beardsley was meticulous about his attire: dove-grey suits, hats, ties, and yellow gloves. He appeared at his publisher's in a [[morning coat]] and [[court shoes]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weintraub |first1=Stanley |title=Aubrey Beardsley, Imp of the Perverse |date=1976 |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |page=85}}</ref>

Although Beardsley was associated with the homosexual clique that included Oscar Wilde and other aesthetes, the details of his sexuality remain in question. In his ''Autobiographies,'' W.B. Yeats, who knew him well, says that he was not homosexual. Speculation about his sexuality includes rumours of an incestuous relationship with his elder sister, Mabel, who may have become pregnant by her brother and miscarried.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Beardsley+and+the+art+of+decadence%3B+Aubrey+Beardsley.+By+Matthew...-a060788352 ''Beardsley and the art of decadence'' by Matthew Sturgis]", reviewed by Richard Edmonds in ''The Birmingham Post'' (England), 21 March 1998. At thefreelibrary.com, retrieved 5 April 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Latham, David|title=Haunted texts: studies in Pre-Raphaelitism in honour of William E. Fredeman|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2003|isbn= 978-0-8020-3662-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R81qhmUO2BoC&q=Mabel+Beardsley+incest+sister&pg=PA194|page=194}}</ref>

During his entire career, Beardsley had recurrent attacks of tuberculosis. He suffered frequent lung haemorrhages and often was unable to work or leave his home.

Beardsley converted to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] in March 1897. The next year, the last letter before his death was to his publisher [[Leonard Smithers]] and close friend [[Herbert Charles Pollitt]]: <blockquote>Postmark: March 7, 1898 | Jesus is our Lord and Judge | Dear Friend, I implore you to destroy ''all'' copies of ''Lysistrata'' and bad drawings … By all that is holy, ''all'' obscene drawings. | Aubrey Beardsley | In my death agony.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4PLp-V0e4b4C&q=Jesus+is+our+Lord+and+Judge.Dear+Friend%2CI+implore+you+to+destroy+all+copies+of+Lysistrata+and+bad+drawings&pg=PA439|title=The Letters of Aubrey Beardsley|last=Beardsley|first=Aubrey|date=1970|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press|isbn=978-0-8386-6884-9|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>Both men ignored Beardsley's wishes,<ref name="kooistra">{{cite book|last1=Kooistra|first1=Lorraine Janzen|author-link1=Lorraine Janzen Kooistra|editor1-last=Fredeman|editor1-first=William Evan|editor2-last=Latham|editor2-first=David|title=Haunted Texts: Studies in Pre-Raphaelitism in Honour of William E. Fredeman|date=2003|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-3662-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hauntedtextsstud0000unse/page/178 178–183]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R81qhmUO2BoC&pg=PA182|language=en|chapter=Sartorial Obsessions: Beardsley and Masquerade|url=https://archive.org/details/hauntedtextsstud0000unse/page/178}}</ref><ref name="perdurabo">{{cite book|last1=Kaczynski |first1=Richard |title=Perdurabo, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Life of Aleister Crowley |date=2012 |publisher=North Atlantic Books |isbn=978-1-58394-576-6 |pages=37–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_A23t1hGFwUC&pg=PA37|language=en}}</ref> and Smithers actually continued to sell reproductions as well as forgeries of Beardsley's work.<ref name="Crown Publishers, Inc">{{cite book|title=The Collected Drawings of Aubrey Beardsley|editor=Harris, Bruce S.|year=1967|publisher=Crown Publishers, Inc}}</ref>

== Death ==
In December 1896, Beardsley suffered a violent haemorrhage, leaving him in precarious health. By April 1897, a month after his conversion to Catholicism, his deteriorating health prompted a move to the French Riviera. There he died a year later, on 16 March 1898, of tuberculosis at the Cosmopolitan Hotel (now the Résidence Mont Fleuri private apartments) in Menton, [[Alpes-Maritimes]], France, attended by his mother and sister. He was 25 years old. Following a [[Requiem|requiem Mass]] in Menton Cathedral the following day, his remains were interred in the Cimetière du Trabuquet.<ref>{{harvnb|Sturgis|1998}}{{page needed|date=January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite ODNB|id=1821|title=Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent (1872–1898), illustrator|first=Alan|last=Crawford|year=2004|freearticle=y}}</ref>

== Media portrayals ==
In the 1982 ''Playhouse'' drama ''Aubrey'', written by [[John Selwyn Gilbert]], Beardsley was portrayed by actor [[John Dicks (actor)|John Dicks]]. The drama concerned Beardsley's life from the time of Oscar Wilde's arrest in April 1895, which caused Beardsley to lose his position at ''The Yellow Book'', to his death from tuberculosis in 1898.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2008/06/22/aubrey-by-john-selwyn-gilbert/|title=Aubrey|first=John Selwyn|last=Gilbert|date=22 June 2008}}</ref> The BBC documentary ''Beardsley and His Work'' was made in 1982.<ref name="BBC-p02t77gl">{{cite web |title=BBC – Beardsley and his Work |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02t77gl |website=BBC |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref> Beardsley is featured on the cover of [[The Beatles]]' ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (album)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]''. The 1977 horror film ''[[Death Bed: The Bed That Eats]]'' is narrated by the entombed spirit of an unnamed artist whose work and manner of death identify him as Beardsley.<ref>[https://thebedlamfiles.com/film/death-bed/ ''DEATH BED'' - The Bedlam Files]</ref>

In March 2020, BBC Four broadcast the hour-long documentary ''Scandal & Beauty: Mark Gatiss on Aubrey Beardsley'', presented by [[Mark Gatiss]]. The programme coincided with the Beardsley exhibition at [[Tate Britain]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gx0d ''Scandal & Beauty: Mark Gatiss on Aubrey Beardsely''] - [[BBC Four]] website</ref>

Beardsley's art is mentioned briefly in the 2011 version of the [[Car Seat Headrest]] song, ''Beach Life-in-Death.''<ref>{{Citation |title=Car Seat Headrest – Beach Life-in-Death [2011] |url=https://genius.com/Car-seat-headrest-beach-life-in-death-2011-lyrics |access-date=2022-09-04}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In 2019 the [[National Leather Association International]] established an award named after Beardsley for creators of abstract erotic art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nla-international.com/award-nominations.html|title=Award Nominations - NLA International|author=NLA-I. Web|website=www.nla-international.com}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" widths="100" heights="200">
File:John+Salome.jpg|''[[John the Baptist]] and [[Salome]]'', 1893–4<br /> (published 1907)
File:Aubrey Beardsley - The Stomach Dance.jpg|''The Stomach Dance'', 1893–4
File:Salomé- a tragedy in one act pg 79.jpg|''The Dancers Reward'', from <!-- pg 79 of -->''[[Salome (play)|Salomé]]: a tragedy in one act'' (1904)
File:Aubrey Beardsley - The Climax.jpg|''[[The Climax (illustration)|The Climax]]'' from the illustrations for ''Salomé'', 1893–4
File:Der Puderquast.jpg|Tailpiece or ''Cul de Lampe'', cover for Wilde's ''Salomé'', 1893–4
File:How Morgan le Fay Cave a Shield to Sir Tristram.jpg|''How [[Morgan le Fay]] gave a Shield to [[Tristan|Sir Tristram]]'', 1893
File:Aubrey Beardsley - Masquerade.jpg|''Masquerade'', cover design for ''The Yellow Book'', vol. 1, 1894
File:Aubrey Beardsley - Edgar Poe 1.jpg|Illustration for [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s ''[[The Murders in the Rue Morgue]]'', 1894–5
File:Aubrey Beardsley - Edgar Poe 3.jpg|''[[The Fall of the House of Usher]]'', 1894–5
File:Aubrey Beardsley - Edgar Poe 4.jpg|Illustration for ''[[The Masque of the Red Death]]'', 1894–5
File:Venus between terminal gods beardsley.jpg|''[[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] between [[Term (architecture)|Terminal Gods]]'', 1895
File:Messalina and her Companion by A.Beardsley (1895, Tate).jpg|''[[Messalina]] and her Companion'', Tate Britain, 1895
File:Aubrey Beardsley - Et in Arcadia Ego (1896).jpg|''Et in Arcadia Ego'', 1896
File:Beardsley2.jpeg|''The Billet-doux'', from ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]'' by [[Alexander Pope]], 1896
File:RapeLock7Cave of Spleen.jpeg|''The Cave of Spleen'', from  ''The Rape of the Lock'', 1896
File:Aubrey Beardsley - The driving of Cupid from the garden - preparatory drawing for the cover design of 'The Savoy', no.3... - Google Art Project.jpg|''The driving of [[Cupid]] from the garden'', preparatory drawing for the cover design of ''The Savoy'' (no. 3, July 1896)
File:Aubrey Beardsley, Ali Baba.jpg|Cover of ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'', 1897
File:Aubrey Beardsley Beardsley - Isolde.jpg|''[[Isolde]]'', illustration in [[Pan (magazine)|''Pan'' magazine]], 1899
File:Aubrey Beardsley, Withered Spring, NGA 4599.jpg|''Withered Spring'', unknown date, [[National Gallery of Art]]
</gallery>

== Works ==
* Beardsley, Aubrey, Simon Wilson, and Linda Gertner Zatlin. 1998. ''Aubrey Beardsley: a centenary tribute''. Tokyo: Art Life Ltd. {{OCLC|42742305}}

== See also ==
* [[Art Nouveau]]
* [[Art Nouveau posters and graphic arts]]
* [[Harry Clarke]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General sources ==
* {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent |first=Walter |last=Armstrong}}
* Beardsley, Aubrey, Simon Wilson, and Linda Gertner Zatlin. 1998. ''Aubrey Beardsley: a centenary tribute''. Tokyo: Art Life Ltd. {{OCLC|42742305}}
* Beerbohm, Max. 1928. 'Aubrey Beardsley' in ''A Variety of Things''. New York, Knopf.
* Benkovitz, Miriam J. 1980. ''Aubrey Beardsley, an Account of his Life''. New York, N.Y.: Putnam. {{ISBN|0-399-12408-X}}.
* {{cite book|last=Brophy|first=Brigid|date=1968|title=Black and White: a Portrait of Aubrey Beardsley|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Stein and Day|oclc=801979437}}
* Calloway, Stephen. 1998. ''Aubrey Beardsley''. New York, N.Y.: Harry N. Abrams. {{ISBN|0-8109-4009-4}}.
* Dovzhyk, Sasha. 2020. "Aubrey Beardsley in the Russian 'World of Art'". British Art Studies Issue 18. https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-18/sdovzhyk
* Dowson, Ernest. 1897. ''The Pierrot of the Minute''. Restored edition with Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations, CreateSpace, 2012. Bilingual illustrated edition with French translation by Philippe Baudry, CreateSpace, 2012
* Fletcher, Ian. 1987. ''Aubrey Beardsley''. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers. {{ISBN|0-8057-6958-7}}.
* Reade, Brian. 1967. ''Aubrey Beardsley''. New York: Bonanza Books.
* Ross, Robert 1909. ''Aubrey Beardsley''. London: John Lane.
* Snodgrass, Chris. 1995. ''Aubrey Beardsley: Dandy of the Grotesque''. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-509062-4}}.
* Symons, Arthur. 1898. ''Aubrey Beardsley''. London: At the Sign of the Unicorn.
* {{cite book|last=Sturgis|first=Matthew|title=Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography|publisher=Harper Collins|year=1998|isbn=978-0-00-255789-4}}
* Weintraub, Stanley. 1967. ''Beardsley: a biography.'' New York, N.Y.: Braziller.
* Zatlin, Linda G. 1997. ''Beardsley, Japonisme, and the Perversion of the Victorian Ideal''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-58164-8}}.
* Zatlin, Linda G. 1990. ''Aubrey Beardsley and Victorian Sexual Politics''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|019817506X}}.
* Zatlin, Linda G. 2007. "Aubrey Beardsley and the Shaping of Art Nouveau." ''Bound for the 1890s: Essays on Writing and Publishing in Honor of James G. Nelson''. Ed. Jonathan Allison. Buckinghamshire: Rivendale Press.
* Zatlin, Linda G. "Wilde, Beardsley, and the Making of Salome." Scholars Library, 2007; originally published in ''The Journal of Victorian Culture'' 5.2 (November 2000): 341–57.
* Zatlin, Linda G. 2006. "Aubrey Beardsley." ''Encyclopedia of Europe 1789–1914''. Chicago: Gale Research.

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=Grotesque and Performance in the Art of Aubrey Beardsley |first=Evanghelia |last=Stead |publisher=[[Open Book Publishers]] |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-80511-348-5|url=https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0413}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Aubrey Beardsley}}
* [https://ab2020.org/ The Aubrey Beardsley Society] 
* The [https://ab2020.org/library/ Aubrey Beardsley Library] with digitised sources on the artist
* BBC Radio 4 Great Lives programme on Aubrey Beardsley: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pty45 listen online]
* The [https://ab2020.org/blog/ Aubrey Beardsley Blog] with scholarly and creative contributions
* {{Gutenberg author | id=41820| name=Aubrey Beardsley}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Aubrey Vincent Beardsley}}
* {{Librivox author |id=12145}}
* {{Find a Grave|2971}}
* [http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=1248 Works displayed at Art Renewal Center website]
* [http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead/00010.xml&query=beardsley,%20aubrey&query-join=and Aubrey Beardsley Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301184922/http://research.hrc.utexas.edu:8080/hrcxtf/view?docId=ead%2F00010.xml&query=beardsley%2C%20aubrey&query-join=and |date=1 March 2012 }} at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* [http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/findaids/mountholyoke/mshm073_main.html Aubrey Beardsley Letter from the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections]
* [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030005394&view=1up&seq=217&skin=2021 Article on Aubrey Beardsley in April 1895 edition of ''The Bookman'' (New York)]

{{Aubrey Beardsley}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beardsley, Aubrey}}
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:English children's book illustrators]]
[[Category:Illustrators of fairy tales]]
[[Category:19th-century English illustrators]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Westminster School of Art]]
[[Category:Artists from Brighton]]
[[Category:Art Nouveau illustrators]]
[[Category:British erotic artists]]
[[Category:British fantasy artists]]
[[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism]]
[[Category:English expatriates in France]]
[[Category:English Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in art]]
[[Category:People educated at Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in France]]