Image: The Climax by Aubrey Beardsley’s (1894)
Aubrey Beardsley’s “The Climax” made its first appearance in Salome (1894) by Oscar Wilde. The image shows Salome holding the severed head of John the Baptist, her expression in this image is ambiguous and the composition is elegant and grotesque at the same time. The use of stark black and white contrasts and the curving lines create an unsettling interplay of beauty and horror. The elongation of Salome’s figure and her ornate surroundings evoke a dreamlike quality, aligning itself with the era’s fascinations with decadence and mysticism. This visual of allure and revulsion underscores the ineffable nature of terror, a concept Arthur Machen described as “unspeakable” in its evocation of dread beyond human understanding(Machen).
Works Cited
Calloway, Stephen. Aubrey Beardsley. Harry N. Abrams, 1998.Machen, Arthur. Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature. A. Rivers, 1902.
Wilde, Oscar. Salome. John Lane, 1894.