Réjane

Details

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (1872-1898)
Réjane
signed with device (lower left) and inscribed and dated 'REJANE 1893' (lower right)
pencil, pen and black ink and black and red chalks on paper
7 ¾ x 6 ¼ in. (19.3 x 15.8 cm.)

Provenance

Frederick H. Evans; probably Anderson Galleries, New York, 20 March 1919, catalogue untraced.
A French private collection.
with Ewan Phillips Gallery, London, 1967.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 2 December 1986, lot 105.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 6 March 1998, lot 131.
Private collection, Switzerland.
The Triton Collection Foundation.

Literature

G.W., 'Aubrey Beardsley, in Memoriam', The Studio, vol. 13, 1898, pp. 252-63.
A. Beardsley, A Book Of Fifty Drawings With An Iconography By Aymer Vallance, London, 1897, no. 94.
R.Ross and A. Vallance, Aubrey Beardsley, London, 1909, no. 94.
J. Lane, The Later Work of Aubrey Beardsley, New York, 1967, pl. 40.
B. Reade, Aubrey Beardsley, New York, 1967, p. 334, no. 265, illustrated.
J.J. Lévêque, Les années de la belle époque 1890-1914, Paris, 1991, p. 277.
S. van Geugten, Avants-gardes, 1870 to the present, the Collection of the Triton Foundation, Brussels, 2012, p. 538, illustrated in colour p. 133.

Exhibited

London, Carfax Gallery, Drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, October 1904, no. 83.
Rotterdam, Boijmans Van Beunigen Museum, From Monet to Picasso, Masterpieces on paper 1860-1960 from the Triton Foundation Collection, November 2002 - February 2003.
The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, Têtes fleuries, 19e - en 20e - eeuwse portretkunst uit de Triton Foundation, July - December 2007, p. 11.

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Lot Essay

The present drawing of the actress Madame Réjane, is one of a number of drawings (1856-1920), Beardsley executed of the actress at the height of his interest in the theatre. The choice of red chalk as a medium is unusual for Beardsley, but may be explained by this drawing being sketched during the run of her play 'Madame Sans-Gêne’ at the Gaiety Theatre, June 1894. Stephen Calloway suggests that the arrangement of light and shade may well be a result of the low angle of stage footlights. Having sketched the actress in the portable medium of chalk, the pen decorations, inscription and borders were probably added later in the studio. The present drawing was probably used as the model for the other drawings of Réjane, including one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and for the Yellow Book (Reade, op.cit., no. 359). This drawing was formerly in the collection of the rare book dealer, Frederick Evans (1853–1943), an early patron of Beardsley.

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