Ink and graphite on paper
Tate Britain
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/aubrey-beardsley-716" aria-label="More by Aubrey Beardsley" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Aubrey Beardsley</a>
Design Frontispiece to John Davidsons Plays
Bequeathed by John Lane 1926
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
actor
adults
animal / human
animals: fantastic
arts and entertainment
author
Beardsley, Mabel
caricature
cartoon / comic strip
classical myths: creatures
classical myths: gods and heroes
clothing and personal items
dancer
Dionysus / Bacchus
editor
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
formal qualities
Genee, Adeline
group
groups
Harland, Henry
Harris, Augustus
hat
headdress
Le Gallienne, Richard
leisure and pastimes
literary
man
mask
music and entertainment
named individuals
nudes
objects
people
poet
religion and belief
satyr
smiling
social comment
society
standing
suit
theatre
theatre director
tutu
Wilde, Oscar
woman
work and occupations
<p>This does not apparently show a scene from one of Davidson's plays, but is instead a series of caricatures of notable figures of the day. At the centre, the cloaked figure is Sir Augustus Harris, the manager of the Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Her Majesty's theatres. A corpulent Oscar Wilde is portrayed as Bacchus, and beside him the nude woman is Beardsley's sister Mabel, an actress. The faun is Henry Harland, literary editor of the 'Yellow Book', the masked figure is the poet Richard Le Gallienne, and the ballerina is the dancer Adeline Genee.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink graphite
1 March 2003 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2 April 2003 – 31 May 2003
2003-05-31
2003-04-02
Drawing Center (New York, USA)
18 June 2003 – 24 August 2003
2003-08-24
2003-06-18
Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, Australia)
26 September 2003 – 28 March 2004
2004-03-28
2003-09-26
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
29 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-01
The Stage of Drawing: Gesture and Act Selected from the Tate Collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
28 November 2007 – 18 February 2008
2008-02-18
28 November 2007 – 18 February 2008
2008-02-18
2007-11-28
Dulwich Picture Gallery (London, UK)
2007-11-28
The Age of Enchantmnet: Beardsley, Dulac and their contemporaries
Loan-out
1 September 2014 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
1 September 2014 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
2014-09-01
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
2014-09-01
Oscar Wilde. Aubrey Beardsley. Look from Russia
Loan-out
4 March 2020 – 20 September 2020
2020-09-20
4 March 2020 – 20 September 2020
2020-09-20
2020-03-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
16 June 2020 – 13 September 2020
2020-09-13
2020-06-16
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2020-03-04
Aubrey Beardsley
Exhibition
12 October 2020 – 12 January 2021
2021-01-12
12 October 2020 – 12 January 2021
2021-01-12
2020-10-12
Musée d’Orsay (Paris, France)
2020-10-12
Aubrey Beardsley
Loan-out
8 May 2023 – 5 May 2025
2025-05-05
31 October 2022
2022-10-31
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-05-08
Gallery 6
Collection based display
Design for the Frontispiece to John Davidson’s Plays
support: 286 × 187 mm
frame: 503 × 375 × 20 mm
Bequeathed by John Lane 1926
<p>This does not apparently show a scene from  one of Davidson's plays, but is instead a series  of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/caricature" title="Glossary definition for 'Caricature'"><span>caricatures</span></a> of notable figures of the day. At  the centre, the cloaked figure is Sir Augustus  Harris, the manager of the Covent Garden, Drury  Lane and Her Majesty's theatres. A corpulent Oscar  Wilde is portrayed as Bacchus, and beside him the  nude woman is Beardsley's sister Mabel, an  actress. The faun is Henry Harland, literary  editor of the 'Yellow Book', the masked figure is  the poet Richard Le Gallienne, and the ballerina  is the dancer Adeline Genee.</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04172</b> DESIGN FOR THE FRONTISPIECE TO JOHN DAVIDSON'S PLAYS 1894
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. with Japanesque mark b.r.
<br/>Pencil and Indian ink, 11 1/4×7 3/4 (28·5×18·75).
<br/>Bequeathed by John Lane 1926.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> John Lane.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Tate Gallery, 1923–4 (33); on loan to the Tate Gallery, 1924–6.
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Vallance in <i>Fifty Drawings</i>, 1897, p.209; <i>Under the Hill</i>, 1904, pp.ix–x and 70, repr. p.73; Vallance in Ross, 1909, p.90, No.88; Macfall, 1928, p.58; <i>Best of Beardsley</i>, 1948, No.16, repr.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Early Work</i>, 1899, pl.88; Ross, 1909, facing p.26; <i>Later Work</i>, 1920 ed., pl.3.</p>
<p>The design for the frontispiece to the <i>Plays</i> of John Davidson, published by Elkin Mathews and John Lane about April 1894. The figures are <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/caricature" title="Glossary definition for 'Caricature'"><span>caricatures</span></a> of well-known people of the day: from left to right, Mabel Beardsley, the artist's sister, an actress; Henry Harland, literary editor of <i>The Yellow Book</i>; Oscar Wilde, the author and wit; Sir Augustus Harris, manager of the Covent Garden, Drury Lane and Her Majesty's Theatres; Richard Le Gallienne, the poet and essayist; and Adeline Genée, the dancer.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions actor adults animal / human animals: fantastic arts and entertainment author Beardsley, Mabel caricature cartoon / comic strip classical myths: creatures classical myths: gods and heroes clothing and personal items dancer Dionysus / Bacchus editor emotions, concepts and ideas female formal qualities Genee, Adeline group groups Harland, Henry Harris, Augustus hat headdress Le Gallienne, Richard leisure and pastimes literary man mask music and entertainment named individuals nudes objects people poet religion and belief satyr smiling social comment society standing suit theatre theatre director tutu Wilde, Oscar woman work and occupations