Contributing Institution: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

Title: R.A. Walker Collection of Beardsley Family Photographs

source: Walker, R. A. (Rainforth Armitage), 1886-1960

Identifier/Call Number: MS.1950.049

Physical Description: 1 box (5 linear inches)

Date (inclusive): about 1875-1950

Abstract: Photographs of Aubrey Beardsley and his family collected by R.A. Walker, likely as a part of his research on Beardsley.

Language of Material: English .

Purchase, 1950, Elkin Mathews Ltd. (item 75 from Elkin Mathews Ltd. Quarto 8 : Aubrey Beardsley, Some items from the collection of R.A. Walker, May 1950).

Aubrey Beardsley was born in Brighton, England in 1872 to Ellen Agnus Pitt and Vincent Paul Beardsley. Vincent had inherited a small fortune from his father, but had lost most of it by the time Aubrey and his older sister Mabel were born. Their family (which also included sister Mabel, born in 1871) moved from Brighton to London in 1883 and struggled economically, as Vincent worked unsuccessfully in a variety of clerical jobs. Aubrey contracted tuberculosis when he was 7, though his case was mild for most of his childhood; his first real outbreak came in 1889. He left school in 1888 and found work as a clerk. Soon after, he began drawing and studied art briefly at the Westminster School of Art. After being discovered by art journalist Aymer Vallance in 1892, Aubrey began creating a public persona for himself and establishing his black-and-white linear drawing style, which was particularly suited to new developments in printing. Throughout the early 1890s, Beardsley's fame and notoriety continued to grow, as he illustrated Oscar Wilde's Salome and co-founded the magazine The Yellow Book. His often erotic and grotesque work, as well as his eccentric persona were often controversial, and his association with Wilde somewhat damaged his reputation after Wilde's 1895 arrest for "gross indecency." Beardsley's health became increasingly worse after 1896, and he died in Menton, France in 1898 at the age of 25.

In addition to Aubrey Beardsley, his sister Mabel and his parents, this collection also contains photographs of other maternal family members. His mother, Ellen Agnus Pitt (1846-1932), had been born in India in 1846 to Surgeon-Major William Pitt (about 1816-1887) and Susan Lamb (born 1821). Surgeon-Major Pitt served with the Indian Medical Service in Southeast Asia until his retirement in 1857; in 1864, the family settled in Brighton. Susan Lamb Pitt's mother, Anne Margaret Wright (1803-1894) is also included in this collection.

Sources consulted:

* "Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/1821 , accessed January 2023.

* Matthew Sturgis, Chapter 1 excerpt of "Aubrey Beardsley: A Biography", New York Times Book Review (online). New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/sturgis-beardsley.html , accessed January 2023.

This collection consists of photographs collected by Rainforth Armitage Walker of Aubrey Beardsley and his family. Most photographs are reduced copies of original cabinet cards and photographs, and many of these are apparently also a part of the University of Reading collection on Aubrey Beardsley (MS 160, Online guide available here ). Images also include a photograph of Beardsley's grave at Menton, as well as a photograph taken during the unveiling of the memorial tablet placed at his birthplace in Brighton, England.