Haute Porn – Aubrey Beardsley

Beardsley (born 21 August 1872) was unique with his precise, mannered etchings of romantic historical pastiches, decadent and languorous, reminiscent of Japanese wood-cuts and a not too distant cousin of work by the likes of Gustav Dore.

Able to work without working, the sad trade-off for that good fortune was his martyrdom to TB, Beardsley dying aged only 25.  A pity, for the great marriage of his imagination with his precision could have helped stave off the artistic morass in which we find ourselves, a century or so later.