The Wagnerites
by BEARDSLEY, Aubrey Vincent, Pen and India ink, heightened with white, on paper, 206 x 177 mm
This drawing in black ink depicts a stylised image showing men and women, many with elaborate coiffures, seated in an opera house. On the balcony, there are three seated women and two standing men. A programme that has fallen onto the floor lettered ‘TRISTAN AND ISOLDE’ is visible in the bottom right corner.
Beardsley had an obsessive interest in Wagner and avidly attended the London performances of the works. This depiction of the Wagnerian audience rather than the action of the opera, identified by the fallen programme as Tristan and Isolde, is one of the greatest masterpieces of Beardsley’s mani�re noire. This illustration was reproduced as no. III in ‘Four Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley’ in ‘The Yellow Book’, vol. III, October 1894, London.