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First edition

Paperback – 210 x 148 mm – 404 pages

ISBN 9781843680741

When Aubrey Beardsley died in 1898, he was aged only 25. In his short but crowded career he had become one of the defining figures of the fin-de-siècle – a precocious draughtsman who redefined the limits of black-and-white art. His erotic, decadent illustrations for Oscar Wilde’s Salome set the tone for his style: by turns shocking, facetious and cruel. Beloved by Burne-Jones, cursed by William Morris, he was the intimate of Wilde, the rival of Whistler, the friend of Beerbohm, Sickert, Ada Leverson and William Rothenstein. His deliberate manipulation of press and public and his awareness of both art and the market-place made him one of the first truly modern artists.

Matthew Sturgis is the author of a highly acclaimed account of English decadence, Passionate Attitudes (Macmillan, 1995, and Pallas Athene, 2011) and the definitive biography of Walter Sickert (Harper Collins, 2005).

Thoroughly researched, balanced ... evenly paced ... Sturgis writes with a poise and knowledge that inspire the reader with confidence
Richard Dorment, TLS

An excellent piece of work, written with a light, slightly arch tone that exactly suits the subject
Martin Gayford, Sunday Telegraph

Immensely well-researched and sensitively written ... His is now the full biography of Beardsley that the general reader needs and will most enjoy
Tom Rosenthal, THES

Racy, accurate and exciting... Sturgis has a fine grasp of the period, portraying its restaurant culture (not the least of the parallels with our own fin de siècle society) and in the process allowing a glimpse into Beardsley’s complex character: ambitious, intensely imaginative, and yet always overshadowed by his own mortality
Philip Hoare, World of Interiors