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This analysis of Beardsley (at the TATE website) is inane. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/aubrey-beardsley-716/art-being-dandy
You don't have to be a genius to understand that it is code for catching an STD from failing to wear a condom (typically made of animal intestine at the time) when 'stepping out'.
The brief summary of Beardsley's life is not much better. No, the image in the article is not an uncomplicated depiction of women who are 'defiant and free to act as they please'. It is riven with complexity, if you pay attention. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/aubrey-beardsley-716/story-aubrey-beardsley-five-artworks
He was clearly drawn to controversial subject matters, but also increasingly invested in Catholicism nearer the end of his life (impending death will do that sort of thing to people), asking his associate to destroy all his erotic drawings.
Beardsley is really interesting, but shallow, uninformed revisionism that disregards historical context looks awful on a website ( @Tate) that faces the world.
This is written by someone who has not done any of their homework, but has a fashionable agenda. #fail
This is written by someone who has not done any of their homework, but has a fashionable agenda. #fail
