Aubrey Beardsley: Bons Mots and Grotesques

‘To critics who said that the full-lipped so-called 'Beardsley mouth’, which adorned many of his women, was ‘inexpressive and ugly’, the artist countered, ‘Well, let them criticise. It’s my mouth and not theirs. I like big mouths. People like the little mouth - the Dolly Varden mouth, if that describes it better. A big mouth is the sign of character and strength. Look at Ellen Terry with her great, strong mouth. In fact, I haven’t any patience with small-mouthed people.’

‘The popular idea of a picture is something told in oil or writ in water to be hung on a room’s wall or in a picture gallery to perplex an artless public.’

‘To my mind, there is nothing so depressing as a Gothic cathedral. I hate to have the sun shut out by the saints.’

‘What a nice ample creature George Sand is: like a wonderful old cow with all her calves.’

And other witty, urbane insights on life, art, and culture, illustrated with selected drawings from his Grotesques series.