Crouching Midget

1891

Decides to become an artist

In 1891, on the advice of Edward Burne-Jones and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Beardsley resolved to make art his profession. Burne-Jones introduced him to Oscar Wilde and advised him to study medieval illumination.

1892

Trip to Paris

In 1892 Beardsley travelled to Paris, where he discovered the posters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Parisian fashion for Japanese prints.

1892

Westminster School of Art

In 1892 Beardsley attended classes at the Westminster School of Art, then under Professor Fred Brown.

14 February 1892

Meets Robert Ross

Robert Ross recalled their first meeting: Beardsley was shy, nervous and self-conscious — nothing like the assured man he would be eighteen months later, when his success was unquestioned; after half an hour he relaxed and grew talkative.

1894

Art editor of The Yellow Book

In 1894 Beardsley, together with the American writer Henry Harland, became art editor of The Yellow Book; for its first four issues he produced the covers and many illustrations.

1894–1896

His health sharply declines

Between 1894 and 1896, at the height of his success, his health sharply deteriorated. “I know my illness is incurable,” he wrote to Raffalovich, “but I am sure measures can be taken to slow its course.”