#QueerHeroes Day 21
Aubrey Beardsley.
Beardsley is regarded by most as asexual, but his art teemed with eroticism from the content to the curves and complements of every stroke.
He was popular with the eccentrics of London. He was great friends with Oscar Wilde and even illustrated a published edition of Wilde’s controversial play Salomé. He also illustrated an NSFW edition of Trojan Women as well as a variety of magazine covers.
Shortly after Wilde’s infamous gross indecency trial, Beardsley converted to catholicism and began an effort to have his sexual drawings removed from circulation. It only made them more popular.
Beardsley changed the course of design and is considered one of the founders of the Art Noveau movement. In her essay Notes on Camp, Susan Sontag describes Beardsley’s decadence and style as pure camp, but like all great camp, there’s a beautiful earnestness and sensitivity underlying it.
Evan Brechtel 