This is a review of the work of the English painter and illustrator Aubrey Beardsley. It is written by Germán Arciniegas, who discusses the craft and creativity of the artist’s illustrations. The review begins by associating art with mystery, phantasmagorical tales, literature, history, and all things fleeting. Arciniegas believes that art is permanent and should be preserved; he thinks an artist has the power to immortalize a work. He then goes on to discuss in particular Beardsley’s work, referring to his skill and to his blending of “the extraordinary aspects of the east and the extraordinary aspects of the west.” According to Arciniegas, this English artist brings stories to life with his drawings: “Aubrey Beardsley has contributed a visual dimension to the phantasmagorical work where [Edgar Allan] Poe’s raven flies and Oscar Wilde’s sphinx smiles.”

This article is important because it is so unique, because it is one of the very few documents in Colombia that mentions the work of Aubrey Beardsley (1872−98), and also because of when it was published. In 1929 there were a few fairly prominent Colombian draftsmen and caricaturists who published their work in a number of different magazines in Bogotá. Interestingly enough, they were never mentioned in the press. Germán Arciniegas (1900−99)—a liberal intellectual and editor of Universidad, a magazine that published illustrations that were innovative by the standards of the time—possessed the authority to explain Beardsley’s historical and artistic significance. By reviewing the British artist’s work, Arciniegas drew attention to the example of an illustrator who had blurred the boundaries between the fine and minor arts in order to highlight the visual richness of his works in which, according to the reviewer, he could glimpse the roots of modern art. 

Aubrey Beardsley died at the age of twenty-five. He was a painter, although he was mainly known for his illustrations, especially his depictions of the works of Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). Beardsley’s work was innovative and critical of the Victorian culture that flourished in England during his time; he explored a range of subjects and techniques, including mythology, caricature, and eroticism. His preferred technique was ink on paper, and he had a particular fondness for Japanese prints. Beardsley was influenced by symbolism and skepticism, and established a connection with the Czech poster artist Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939).     

Germán Arciniegas was a Colombian historian, writer, diplomat, and politician. He studied law at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and was a professor at several schools and universities in Colombia, and at Columbia University in New York. From an early age he was a man of letters, and he founded several magazines, including Universidad (1921–31), Revista de las Indias (1934–44), Revista América (1945–57), and Correo de los Andes (1979–88). In his diplomatic career he was posted to a number of different countries, and he was also a prolific writer. Most of his historical essays and articles dealt with the subject of Americanism and the reclaiming of Latin American cultures and races. In Bogotá, Arciniegas was a fan of the arts, and in particular, an advocate for modernist art forms.