Beardsley's drawing centers on Gabrielle Réjane, a successful French acress whose London debut as Catherine in "Madame Sans Gêne" took place at the Gaiety Theatre on June 24, 1894. The artist imagines her resting on a chaise-longue and uses a filmy sweep of skirt to define the form, with deep black japoniste upholstery supporting the actress's back and feet. A strong visual contrast is established between the expanse of white paper at left, containing a few minimalist lines that describe furniture, and a dark border below which is filled is flowers but is reminiscent of the edge of a stage.
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Title:Madame Réjane
Artist:Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (British, Brighton, Sussex 1872–1898 Menton)
Sitter:Portrait of Madame Gabrielle Réjane (French, Paris 1857–1920 Paris)
Date:1894
Medium:Pen and carbon black ink, brush and carbon black wash
Dimensions:sheet: 14 x 9 1/16 in. (35.6 x 23 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1952
Accession Number:52.64
Madame Réjane on a Chaise Longue
Inscription: Inscribed recto within border, at bottom right: [the artist's emblem]; in black ink, top right (in artist's hand): "REJANE"
Inscribed recto in graphite, then erased, at bottom right: "Rejane"
Inscribed verso in graphite, bottom left: "1825 -- Half this size"
Inscribed verso in black crayon: "3mm / Mar [?] / No of [illeg.] - 5 mm / top 3/4 / N. [?] Riedy [?]
Marking: Old sticker [now detached, in Drawing Dept. Archives]: "Glasgow International Exhibition, 1901./ Fine Art Section -- Black and White./ No. 2/ Madame Rejane/ James Mann/ 4 University Gardens/ Glasgow" Old sticker [now detached, in Drawing Dept. Archives]: "Irish International Exhibition/ 1907/ Fine Art Section/ British and Foreign Artists/ Madame Rejane/ Aubrey Beardsley/ James Mann/ Casltewaig(?), Dolphuitor(?), Peebleshire" Old sticker [now detached, in Drawing Dept. Archives]: "'Mme. Rejane'/ by Aubrey Beardsley/ James Mann/ 4 University Gardens/ Glasgow"
James Mann (British, Scottish), (lent the drawing to exhibitions, 1901 and 1907); Joseph Pennell (American), (lent the drawing for exhibition,1921); R. A. Walker; Vendor: R. A. Walker
Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase. "End Papers: Drawings 1890-1900 and 1990-2000," January 30, 2000–April 23, 2000.
Reade 1967.327; Zatlin 936
Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Works of Modern Artists. 24th Exhibition, February 4–May. Glasgow, 1895, cat. no. 247.
International Exhibition Glasgow 1901: Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section. Glasgow: Charles P. Watson, 1901, cat. no. 80, p. 145 (lent by James Mann, Glasgow).
Irish International Exhibition, Dublin: Fine Art Section : [catalogue of] British and Foreign Artists. Hely's Limited, Dublin, 1907, cat. no. 643, p. 61 (lent by James Mann, Castlecraig, Dolphinton, Peebleshire).
Charles Lewis Hind The Uncollected Work of Aubrey Beardsley. London, 1921, cat. no. 30, ill.
Joseph Pennell Pen Drawing and Pen Draughtsmen : their work and their methods, a study of the art today with technical suggestions. T. Fisher Unwin, London, 1921, illustration courtesy of the author, p. 233.
Joseph Pennell Adventures of an Illustrator, mostly in following his authors in America & Europe. Boston, 1925, p. 223.
A. E. Gallatin Aubrey Beardsley: Catalogue of Drawings and Bibliography. The Grolier Club, New York, 1945, cat. no. 940, p. 54.
Dugald Sutherland MacColl "Aubrey Beardsley." A Beardsley Miscellany. R. A. Walker, London, 1949, p. 28.
Aubrey Beardsley. Ex. cat., Victoria aand Albert Museum, May 20-September 18. London, 1966, no. 296: "Rejane. Original portrait of Madame Réjane (Gabrielle Charlotte Réju) (1857-1920), dated 1894.".
Aubrey Beardsley . Ex. cat.; Victoria & Albert Museum, May 19-Sept. 19, 1966; Manchester AG, Bradford AG, Southampton Univ., Oct.-Dec. 1966; Gallery of Modern Art-Huntington Hartford Mus., NYork, Feb. 14-April 9, 1967; Los Angeles Co. Museum, Dec. 12, 1967-Feb. 4, 1968. London, 1966, cat. no. 296 (London only).
Brian Reade, John Rothenstein Aubrey Beardsley. 1967, cat. no. 327, p. 342, ill.
The Letters of Aubrey Beardsley. Henry Maas, J. L. Duncan, W. G. Good, Rutherford, NJ, 1970, pp. 159, 161.
English Drawings of the Nineteenth Century Pollock Galleries, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University (exhibition checklist). 1973, cat. no. 6.
Rowland and Betty Elzea The Pre-Raphaelite Era, 1848-1914: an exhibition in celebration of the Nation's Bicentennial. Delaware Art Museum, April 12-June 6. Wilmington, 1976, cat. no. 8-1, p. 182, ill.
Changes in Perspective: 1800–1925. Ex. cat., Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University. New York, 1978, p. 18, not reproduced.
Mark Samuels Lasner A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of Aubrey Beardsley. Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, Boston, 1995, cat. no. 79.
Linda Gertner Zatlin Beardsley, Japonisime, and the Perversion of the Victorian Ideal. Cambridge, UK, 1997, cat. no. p. 102.
Linda Gertner Zatlin Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné. Yale University Press, 2 vols., New Haven and London, 2016, vol. II, cat. no. 936, p. 148.
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