Review of Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Reviewed June 2016 by Elizabeth Darocha Berenz, Senior Implementation Manager, Artstor, elizabeth.berenz@artstor.org

Elizabeth Darocha Berenz

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ARLIS/NA Reviews ISSN 2374-4723 | arlisna.org/arlisna-reviews The latest in art publishing, reviewed by art information professionals and published on a bimonthly basis.   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné by Linda Gertner Zatlin. (Paul Mellon Center series in British art). Yale University Press, March 2016. 1112 p. ill. ISBN 9780300111279 (cl.), $300.00.  Reviewed June 2016 Elizabeth Darocha Berenz, Senior Implementation Manager, Artstor, elizabeth.berenz@artstor.org The notably prolific late nineteenth-century artist Aubrey Beardsley had a vast, often notorious, body of work that far outpaced his own tragically short life. Linda Zatlin's Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné is a magnificently complete chronicle of Beardsley's life and work. There has never before been such a comprehensive publication of Aubrey Beardsley's art. A product of twenty-five years of study, this catalogue raisonné contains high-quality reproductions of every available work by Beardsley, as well as Zatlin's meticulously researched writing on his life and work. The catalogue is printed in two substantial volumes, each consisting of more than 500 pages with hundreds of illustrations, dozens of which have never before been published. Beneath the jackets, the black covers have Beardsley's symbolic signature element embossed in silver.  The catalogue begins with a richly detailed nine-page chronology, containing major and minor life events from his education and health to his employment history and commissions (including his earnings with the equivalent contemporary amount noted). Notes on Beardsley's specific experimentations in art techniques and exposure to different artists abound throughout the timeline.  Beardsley's work is presented in chronological suites – from "juvenilia" he created when only eight years old to work created shortly before his death in 1898 at the age of twenty-five. Each grouping of his work is prefaced with a thoughtful introductory essay by Zatlin that reflects ARLIS/NA Reviews ISSN 2374-4723 | arlisna.org/arlisna-reviews The latest in art publishing, reviewed by art information professionals and published on a bimonthly basis.   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. upon Beardsley's life at this juncture in the chronology, including many thoroughly-researched excerpts from interviews with Beardsley, contemporary articles about the artist, and his own letters in which he discusses his work. The illustrations are each accompanied by a thorough provenance, description, and exhibition history. Some descriptions are quite lengthy, even spanning several pages. The descriptions often include biographical context as well as comparison notes with other works and artists. The illustrations of his work are high quality, with color illustrations where relevant. In many cases new high-resolution photographs were taken for this catalogue.  The appendices contain truly valuable information for Beardsley researchers, including sections on drawings found in his letters and books, as well as a section devoted to Beardsley forgeries and parodies. A "Dramatis Personae" section outlines in ten pages both notable and obscure figures in Beardsley's circle, including artists, writers, and publishers.  Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné is an invaluable reference resource for any scholar conducting research on Beardsley. Much more than simply a visual resource, the catalogue is so dense with rich contextual information that Victorian scholars will consult this work again and again. It is highly recommended for all libraries concerned with modern art, illustration, and Victoriana. 

Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné

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Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné

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