COVE

Aubrey Beardsley initially began his illustrations of Salome with a single illustration commissioned by a British magazine in reaction to the notorious play written by Oscar Wilde. When the illustration was published (by a different magazine since the original one found it to be too salacious) it found its way to Wilde who then commissioned Beardsley to illustrate the English edition of the play.

Located on page 21, the illustration “John and Salome” by Aubrey Beardsley depicts the meeting of the prophet Jokanaan and the tetrarch’s daughter Salomé. Each has a limited reductionist view of the other formed on assumptions and appearances. For Jokanaan, Salomé is corrupted by the sin of her people, her parents, and her sex. For Salomé, Jokanaan represents the sexual tensions she is beginning to experience and an otherness that (similar to sexuality) has been intentionally concealed from her (even though it does occur around her).

The figure of Jokanaan is cloaked in black with drapings of white. His hair is partly braided but shown to be wild through the loose hairs and locks falling down his back. His belt is loosely woven resembling a thicket. The edges of his clothing are frayed as though he is wearing a garment of hair. His cloak is ripped at the bottom and seemingly see-through at parts. This image of Jokanaan represents man as a naturalistic creature through the wilderness of his appearance as well as the simplicity of his garb.

In contrast, Salomé is depicted in a white cloak partially concealing her dark undergarments. This mirrors her obscuring of her cruelty and sexuality from the other characters at the start of the play.
The motif of the crescent moon and of the flower is repeated throughout the iconography of Salomé. In the play, both flowers and the moon take on a doubled meaning. King Herod casts off his crown of roses comparing them to fire and blood instead of the typical associations of beauty and love. The rose motif creeps into the frame of the illustration with tendrils reaching towards Salomé. This motif is repeated on her breasts and the clasp of her cloak.

The motif of the white butterflies is also replicated in Salomé's dress from page 7. The unification of all of these motifs to which Salomé is compared shows a performative identity that is cast aside at the play's conclusion (see "The Climax").

The moon motif is replicated in Salomé's dress, hairpiece, and even her tresses. While commonly associated with femininity and purity, when invoked in the text, the moon is constantly resisting interpretations as characters seek to understand it as an omen. The otherness of the moon becomes exoticized and fetishized. In Salomé's admiration of Jokanaan, she invokes the image of the moon as well as that of the rose. Similarly, she is juxtaposed with the moon, flowers, butterflies, and gems. These traditionally feminine-coded symbols while imposed upon Salomé, fail to encapsulate her.

The exoticism and fetishism towards alterity in Salome are encapsulated in this image. Jokanaan and Salomé represent the dual repulsion and desire that are central to attitudes such as exoticism, cultural appropriation, and a fetishized sexual otherness. Beardsley's illustration provides discreetly coded critiques of Victorian Europe. The gaze towards the other was at times fueled by disgust like Jokanaan's gaze upon Salomé, and at other times fueled by fetish like Salomé's gaze upon Jokanaan.

Source: British Library 

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/aubrey-beardsley-illustrations-for-sa...