The Kiss; Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

The Kiss

Oscar Wilde commissioned Beardsley to create an illustration for the play, Salome. This drawing was considered one of the most popular and talked about among many. Beardsley's use of line and space is shown in this image to reflect his style. In Salome Beardsley takes advantage of space within the picture plane by taking away from the ground. In these drawings he effectively combines earlier styles and borrowings, moving beyond imitation of Japanese conventions, and strikes a really original vein in his genius by abandoning in many cases a ground or horizon.* Beardsley's black and white style makes the image seem flat due to the removal of the shadow. However, it seems the image of Salome and John the Baptists head have  two dimension view due to the heavy blackened spaces and the line drawn faces. The lines above the figures heads give off a three dimensional look the way the pattern and crossing of lines moves; it's almost like an image of a map.

Although Salome is one of many popular illustrations that Beardsley created it was known to be the most controversial between Wilde, critics and friends of Wilde's. One statement was made by Wilde, stating that Aubrey's illustration of Salome are too Japanese which did not represent the play. Wilde stated that his play was of the Byzantine era.* In agreeing with Wilde's comment it could be true; based on work it seemed that they are comparable to an Edo Print, such as, Suzki Harunodu's, The Flowers of Beauty in the Floating World. There is no figure to ground relationship to Beardsley's drawing and it showed the lack of attention to the play that Wilde wrote and expected to an illustration that represented the era of his play and the playwright itself.

*Fletcher, Ian. Aubrey Beardsley. Twayne Publishers, 1987. (pg. 57)