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Max's Nineties: Drawings 1892-1899
Some months before his death Sir Max Beerbohm gave his blessing to a project for the recovery and presentation in book form of some of the best and least available of his caricatures. He also approved the plan of a series of such volumes, each devoted to a decade of his work, and made known his preferences for the contents of this first volume, 'Max's Nineties, which covers the years 1892-1899.
Of the forty-six drawings included, only eleven have previously appeared in a book; nine of them in Max's first collection, 'Caricatures of Twenty-Five Gentlemen', which was published in a limited edition in 1896, one in the Penguin edition of 'The Poets' Corner', and one in Bohun Lynch's 'Max Beerbohm in Perspective'. The others are all reproduced from the nineties periodicals in which they first appeared - 'Pick-me-Up', the 'Idler', 'Vanity Fair', the 'Butterfly', the 'Academy', the 'Savoy' and so on, with the exception of a series of eleven drawings entitled 'Mr Gladstone goes to Heaven' (1898), which have never, so far as is known, been reproduced before.
The other subjects range from writers and artists (Whistler, George Meredith, Henry James, Aubrey Beardsley, George Moore) to politics (Joseph Chamberlain, Balfour, Labouchère"), the theatre (Ada Reeve, Arthur Roberts, Wilson Barrett) and as far as the Duke of York (afterwards King George V) and Napoleon at St Helena.
Of the forty-six drawings included, only eleven have previously appeared in a book; nine of them in Max's first collection, 'Caricatures of Twenty-Five Gentlemen', which was published in a limited edition in 1896, one in the Penguin edition of 'The Poets' Corner', and one in Bohun Lynch's 'Max Beerbohm in Perspective'. The others are all reproduced from the nineties periodicals in which they first appeared - 'Pick-me-Up', the 'Idler', 'Vanity Fair', the 'Butterfly', the 'Academy', the 'Savoy' and so on, with the exception of a series of eleven drawings entitled 'Mr Gladstone goes to Heaven' (1898), which have never, so far as is known, been reproduced before.
The other subjects range from writers and artists (Whistler, George Meredith, Henry James, Aubrey Beardsley, George Moore) to politics (Joseph Chamberlain, Balfour, Labouchère"), the theatre (Ada Reeve, Arthur Roberts, Wilson Barrett) and as far as the Duke of York (afterwards King George V) and Napoleon at St Helena.
56 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
4 people want to read
About the author
Max Beerbohm
311 books95 followersSir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm, as "Max," known British writ, apparently wrote
Caricatures of Twenty-five Gentlemen
in 1896.
Henry Maximilian Beerbohm served as an English essayist, parodist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Bee...
Henry Maximilian Beerbohm served as an English essayist, parodist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Bee...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 18, 2018
This delightful book shows Max Beerbohm at his best as he portrays 46 characters in caricature from the 1890s and these include people from the theatre, the literary world, politicians. artists and one or two others. Quite a number of the caricatures had not been published in book form prior to this publication.
The frontispiece is a self portrait but then he shows the various Club Types who frequent such as the Athenaeum, White's, the National Liberal Club and six other clubs and one can imagine these people in the various London locales.
From the literary world my favourite, perhaps not surprisingly, is Oscar Wilde, a caricature that leaves the viewer in no doubt as to who is portrayed. Of the artists his caricature of Mr Whistler crossing the channel is superb. It is entitled 'A Nocturne' and captures Whistler's interpretation of what a Nocturne is admirably; Whistler coined the description to describe a painting style that depicts scenes evocative of the night or subjects as they appear in a veil of light, in twilight, or in the absence of direct light. In a broader usage, the term has come to refer to any painting of a night scene, or night-piece and this image has a grumpy looking Whistler (he often was!) flying across the channel on his broomstick.
From the theatre Arthur Roberts is sartorially elegant in his typically flamboyant Edwardian suit, despite the fact that he often played pantomime dames. But as he is reputed to have coined the word 'spoof', this is undoubtedly a spoofish caricature.
The main political theme is an 11-caricature story entitled 'Mr Gladstone Goes to Heaven' in which, amongst other scenarios, he addresses a mass meeting of angels, narrowly escapes an awkward encounter with General Gordon and feels aggrieved when he views the name of one of the principle streets up there - it is called Disraeli Avenue. In the end he departs from Heaven and meets up with the devil!
There is also Napoleon, looking gloomy on St Helena, Aubrey Beardsley looking quite the aesthete complete with toy poodle, Henry Harland, a Yellow Book contributor but now little recognised, Hall Caine from the Isle of Man, someone else now out of fashion, Paderewski with his moustache greatly exaggerated, the jockey William Archer (father of Fred) looking suitably slim, perhaps for his ninth and last ride in the Grand National, which he won for the first time on Little Charley in 1858, and many more celebrities that are equally delectable.
Perhaps the only disappointment of the collection is that Max, having given his blessing to the project was asked n 6 November 1955 whether he would contribute a few notes about some of the subjects. His reply was, 'Here and there I might write a brief critical note about the drawing or the person. But of course the drawings must mostly speak for themselves' They certainly do so and it is just as well because before the notes could be written, Sir Max died on 20 May 1956, aged 83.
Osbert Lancaster provides an erudite introduction that points out that although Max Beerbohm was regarded as a figure of the Nineties, he did continue to flourish just as successfully well into the second half of the 20th-century. And Lancaster adds that it could well be said of him, as he himself said of Beardsley, that he 'achieved masterpieces at an age when normal genius has as yet done little of which it will not be heartily ashamed hereafter'.
There is certainly no shame in the work portrayed in 'Max's Nineties', which is a book that one can revisit at any time to look at and enjoy.
The frontispiece is a self portrait but then he shows the various Club Types who frequent such as the Athenaeum, White's, the National Liberal Club and six other clubs and one can imagine these people in the various London locales.
From the literary world my favourite, perhaps not surprisingly, is Oscar Wilde, a caricature that leaves the viewer in no doubt as to who is portrayed. Of the artists his caricature of Mr Whistler crossing the channel is superb. It is entitled 'A Nocturne' and captures Whistler's interpretation of what a Nocturne is admirably; Whistler coined the description to describe a painting style that depicts scenes evocative of the night or subjects as they appear in a veil of light, in twilight, or in the absence of direct light. In a broader usage, the term has come to refer to any painting of a night scene, or night-piece and this image has a grumpy looking Whistler (he often was!) flying across the channel on his broomstick.
From the theatre Arthur Roberts is sartorially elegant in his typically flamboyant Edwardian suit, despite the fact that he often played pantomime dames. But as he is reputed to have coined the word 'spoof', this is undoubtedly a spoofish caricature.
The main political theme is an 11-caricature story entitled 'Mr Gladstone Goes to Heaven' in which, amongst other scenarios, he addresses a mass meeting of angels, narrowly escapes an awkward encounter with General Gordon and feels aggrieved when he views the name of one of the principle streets up there - it is called Disraeli Avenue. In the end he departs from Heaven and meets up with the devil!
There is also Napoleon, looking gloomy on St Helena, Aubrey Beardsley looking quite the aesthete complete with toy poodle, Henry Harland, a Yellow Book contributor but now little recognised, Hall Caine from the Isle of Man, someone else now out of fashion, Paderewski with his moustache greatly exaggerated, the jockey William Archer (father of Fred) looking suitably slim, perhaps for his ninth and last ride in the Grand National, which he won for the first time on Little Charley in 1858, and many more celebrities that are equally delectable.
Perhaps the only disappointment of the collection is that Max, having given his blessing to the project was asked n 6 November 1955 whether he would contribute a few notes about some of the subjects. His reply was, 'Here and there I might write a brief critical note about the drawing or the person. But of course the drawings must mostly speak for themselves' They certainly do so and it is just as well because before the notes could be written, Sir Max died on 20 May 1956, aged 83.
Osbert Lancaster provides an erudite introduction that points out that although Max Beerbohm was regarded as a figure of the Nineties, he did continue to flourish just as successfully well into the second half of the 20th-century. And Lancaster adds that it could well be said of him, as he himself said of Beardsley, that he 'achieved masterpieces at an age when normal genius has as yet done little of which it will not be heartily ashamed hereafter'.
There is certainly no shame in the work portrayed in 'Max's Nineties', which is a book that one can revisit at any time to look at and enjoy.
Displaying 1 of 1 review