Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné (The Paul Mellon Center Series in British Art)
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Graphic Design
Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné (The Paul Mellon Center Series in British Art) Details
Review “This monumental two-volume catalogue raisonne is a notable coping stone on the edifice of his reputation. It reals that he is worthy of his enduring fame. During his brief lifetime Beardsley produced an extraordinary – there are over 1,100 drawings here. They have been brilliantly marshalled and laid out in a prodigious labour of dedicated scholarship by Linda Zatlin.”—Matthew Sturgis, Literary Review (Matthew Sturgis Literary Review 2016-05-01)“This is a sumptuous publication of superb quality.”—Donald Mead, Intentions ( Journal of the Oscar Wilde Society), (Donald Mead Intentions 2016-05-01)“Faith in the strong black line is everywhere evident in a gorgeous new two-volume catalogue raisonné of Beardsley’s work, edited by Linda Gertner Zatlin, who also provides helpful commentary for each drawing. . . . [Beardsley] found, and left for us, a line that could hold.”—Morgan Meis, New Yorker (Morgan Meis New Yorker)‘Linda Gertner Zatlin’s magnificent new catalogue lists well over 1,000 drawings, none without interest, most of them masterworks, some the defining images of their time. Poring with Zatlin over every sunflower and poppy, every nipple and tassel and cloven hoof, studying her digests of the large critical scrutiny these pictures have attracted over more than century, one seems to pass in entranced slow motion over a huge corpus of work produced at superhuman speed … absorbing and exhilarating.’ - Alan Hollinghurst, Apollo (Alan Hollinghurst Apollo 2016-07-01)“A magnificently complete chronicle of Beardsley's life and work. . . . comprehensive . . . meticulously researched . . . invaluable.”—Elizabeth Darocha Berenz, ARLIS/NA Reviews (Elizabeth Darocha Berenz ARLIS/NA Reviews)“Linda Zatlin wears three decades of consistent scholarship on Beardsley lightly, and her entries are a consistent pleasure… For the price, the book is a marvellous and monumental achievement, and by far the best single account of Aubrey Beardsley’s particular genius.”—Richard Canning, TLS (Richard Canning TLS 2016-11-11)“Utterly spectacular. Beardsley died of tuberculosis at 25, but still managed to produce 1,100 finished drawings and 100 sketches, which are wonderfully reproduced here in all their exotic, erotic and often grotesque headiness. Zatlin is a perceptive guide to an artist who, she notes, challenged his times and at the same time defined them.”—Michael Prodger, Sunday Times (Michael Prodger Sunday Times 2016-11-27)“Finally, this leading Art Nouveau figure and contemporary of Oscar Wilde gets his due, in a scholarly set presenting well over a thousand finished works alongside assorted sketches and writings. The sheer amount of work Beardsley left behind when he died at 25 is stunning, but his artistic prescience is the real mind-blower."—John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter (“Best of 2016”) (John DeFore Hollywood Reporter)Won an Honorable Mention for the 2016 ARLIS/NA George Wittenborn Memorial Award. (George Wittenborn Memorial ARLIS/NA 2017-03-06)‘Zatlin has created a book that not only does justice to an artist too little known, but one that will stand as the perfect example of the way in which a catalogue raisonné can, and should be, done. This is both a superb reference book and a living example of art historical/literary scholarship carried out on the highest level of creative excellence. Zatlin deserves awards for what she has single-handedly accomplished.’ - Gabriel P. Weisberg, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide (Gabriel P. Weisberg Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 2017-04-01) Read more About the Author Linda Gertner Zatlin is professor of English at Morehouse College, Atlanta. Read more
Reviews
This two volume catalogue raisonné is a remarkable set, comprehensively covering all of the known art of one of the most influential of modern artists. The detailed scholarship so evident in this work is the result of decades of research by a Beardsley authority. The production of the volumes and slipcase is beautiful, as befits its subject. Very highly recommended.