Mrs Winifred Emery 1894

Aubrey Beardsley created this drawing of Mrs. Winifred Emery, the renowned English actress, sometime in the 1890s. It’s a stylish image, typical of Beardsley, but the choice of subject reveals interesting social and cultural tensions of the period. Actresses at this time occupied a peculiar social position, often admired and celebrated, yet also viewed with suspicion, their fame and visibility flying in the face of expectations for women’s behavior. Beardsley’s choice to depict Mrs. Emery, an established figure within the theatrical establishment, speaks to the growing acceptance and integration of actresses into mainstream society. But Beardsley might also have been poking fun at the institutions of art and theatre and their attempts to tame female transgression. To fully understand this work, one would need to delve into the theatrical history of the late 19th century. The images and printed texts from that time can reveal even more about art’s complex relationship to social change.