The art of Aubrey Beardsley

English illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley (1872–98) was a leading figure of the Aesthetic Movement and the most controversial artist of the 1890s. His delicate yet bold drawings in black ink of grotesque, sensual and erotic subjects transformed the art of illustration but also scandalized Victorian society with their dark and often perverse imagery. Prolific until his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25, he produced an enormous body of work that symbolized the decadence of the period and had a substantial and lasting effect on the Art Nouveau and poster movements.