Interview: Exhibition brings little-known illustrator to public attention

A musical prodigy, he only really took to illustrations at the age of 19. Just six years later he died following a bout of tuberculosis, but his legacy outlasted the span of his lifetime many times over.

An exhibition of his work at Leeds University this month brings together illustrations owned by the university and pieces from private collections to provide an overview of Beardsley and also examines the influence and legacy of the precocious artist.

"The fascinating thing is that you can spend a considerable amount of time with each of his illustrations. There is so much in them, so much to see, visitors can look at them and keep spotting new things, new stories," says Dr Zsuzsanna Reed Papp, who has co-curated the exhibition with Layla Bloom.

Fancy and Imagination: Beardsley and the Book Illustrators runs at the university's Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery until February next year.

While Arthur Rackham is considered the premiere illustrator of his generation, Beardsley's work had a huge influence on him and essentially all other illustrators of his day. To demonstrate the point, the exhibition, which showcases over 60 works, features not only the work of Beardsley but also of Harry Clarke, Edmund Dulac, Kate Greenaway, Jessie M King and other contemporaries.

Dr Reed Papp says the black and white illustrations of Beardsley are instantly recognisable to visitors, because of their far-reaching influence, even if his name is not immediately familiar.

Despite the fact that he clearly influenced his contemporaries and those who followed him, Dr Reed Papp says the other striking element of his work exposed by the exhibition is how very different he was to his contemporaries.

"His work is very, very dark," she says. "He revelled in the darkness of the grotesque and in creating these images that featured pretty figures, but had enormous darkness behind all that prettiness."

Dr Reed Papp says that while Beardsley's name may not be as well known as it might be, the Leeds exhibition is helping to address that.

"We had a call from a collector in the US who specialises in his work. While people might not recognise his name, everyone who comes into the exhibition feels like they know his work and many of them recognise the illustrations," she says. "It does feel like there is a great buzz around this exhibition because of the work we have managed to bring together."

BEARDSLEY-AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE

Born in Brighton in 1872, Aubrey Beardsley was a musical prodigy. Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones encouraged him to take up illustration at 19. Publisher J M Dent commissioned him to illustrate Malory's Morte D'Arthur. Thousands of illustrations make up a body of work produced before he died in 1898 aged 25.

Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds University, to February 12.