|
At 17 he went to work in an insurance
office in London, but during this time, he constantly sought
entry into the art world. With this in mind, carrying his
portfolio of drawings, he and his sister Mabel, uninvited,
attempted to gain entry into the studio of Burne-Jones. A
servant immediately went to turn them away. Fortunately Burne-Jones
noticed Mabel's red hair and asked them in. He was so impressed
with Beardsley's work that he advised him to take night classes.
Beardsley's career was launched, and he
was commissioned to produce 300 illustrations for an edition
of Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur. Numerous commissions
followed, most notably The Yellow Book, an art and literature
quarterly.
It was during this time that he met Oscar
Wilde, an alliance which initially helped him both professionally
and personally, but after Wilde's conviction for homosexuality,
guilt by association resulted in Beardsley being dismissed
from The Yellow Book. Various projects followed but things
were never to be the same, and in 1898, at the age of 25,
he died in the South of France from tuberculosis.
|
