After Beardsley (1981)

What might we have expected to see had Aubrey Beardsley magically picked up his pen 80 years after his death? After Beardsley depicts the decadence of contemporary New York in the style and spirit of Aubrey Beardsley, to original music by Ronnie Fowler.

Persons Beardsley may have been drawn to – Lenny Bruce, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith and John Lennon – make cameo appearances in the film. After Beardsley was screened at film festivals around the world and was shown on British, French, German and Swiss television. It was awarded the French ‘Prix de Qualité’ in 1981 and in 1998 was shown on a continuous loop at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, as part of the Beardsley Centenary Exhibition.

A still from the film showing Beardsley on his deathbed was subsequently purchased by the V&A. In 2020, this drawing was used as the final image in the Tate Britain Aubrey Beardsley Exhibition, which, after only two weeks, was put on ice because of the coronavirus shutdowns. After Beardsley is due to be screened at the Musée D’Orsay in Paris when the exhibition eventually moves there from Tate Britain in October 2020.

Stills from the film

Click on the image for a larger view.

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‘Folio’ interview. Anglia Television, 1981

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Beardsley's Influence

Stephen Calloway on the Beardsley influence on modern artists

Guest curator Stephen Calloway discusses the impact of Aubrey Beardsley's work on artists after his death and following the 1966 exhibition at the V&A, which influenced the psychedelic art of the 1960s. Recorded at the press tour for the exhibition at Tate Britain.

After Beardsley is mentioned around the four-minute mark.

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