Description

Aubrey Beardsley 1899 litho ‘Enter Herodias’

For the book ‘Salomé’ by Oscar Wilde

Exceptional  Estate  Sale

Aubrey Beardsley (1872 – 1898)

Antique lithographic print 1899  ‘Enter Herodias’

Enter Herodias shows the moment when Salome’s mother enters the stage. To the bottom right there is a caricature of Oscar Wilde holding a copy of Salome and gesturing up at his own play. It also includes two nude figures. Herodias’s breasts are exposed but she is covered by the large cloak. John Lane, who was Beardsley’s publisher, demanded that Beardsley cover the page on the right’s genitalia with a fig-leaf. But he failed to spot the penis-shaped candles the artist had drawn in the foreground, and the erection of the figure to the left

Publication : the Early Works of Aubrey Beardsley

Publisher : the Bodley Head

Reference : catalogue of drawings, A.E. Gallatin – Paul Appel, Publisher 1945

Sheet size : 29 x 22 cm

Image size : 18 x 13 cm

Absolute Mint condition

Litho is over 120 years old !