{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O132442"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O132442/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NN7196/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NN7196/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NN7196","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GA4105","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU1546","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O132442/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O132442","accessionNumber":"E.747-1945","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Two Athenian women in distress","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Aubrey Beardsley's distinctive black and white drawings for Oscar Wilde's <i>Salomé</i>, published in 1894, brought him an extraordinary notoriety whilst still in his early twenties. His work for the periodical <i>The Yellow Book</i> confirmed his position as the most innovative illustrator of the day, but as a result of the hostile moralistic outcry that followed the arrest and trial of Oscar Wilde in early 1895, John Lane and other publishers panicked and dropped Beardsley. Thereafter, almost the only publisher who would use his drawings was Leonard Smithers. Smithers was a brilliant but shady character who operated on the fringes of the rare book trade, issuing small, clandestine editions of risqué books with the boast: 'I will publish the things the others are afraid to touch'. Smithers encouraged Beardsley's already growing interest in French, Latin and Greek texts of this kind and commissioned drawings to illustrate the <i>Satires</i> of the late Roman poet Juvenal and, most famously, Aristophanes's  bawdy satirical play <i>Lysistrata</i>.\r\n\r\nThe seemingly obscure and bizarre iconography of this illustration is in fact explained by reference to Aristophanes' text which describes the attempts of the Athenian women to escape the city by such means as climbing down a rope or, more fancifully, on the back of a bird. \r\n\r\nThis print comes from the folio of reproductions made from Beardsley's original drawings and published in about 1929. Utilising the expensive collotype process, these prints are much closer to the originals than the earlier line-block prints of the1896 edition of the book or the various, mostly very poor reproductions included in subsequent pirated printings.","physicalDescription":"Black and white print on paper of two Athenian women. The one to the right, seen from the back, climbs down a rope. She is naked except for her stockings; a lost shoe lies beneath her. The second woman to the left is also naked save for a diaphonous cape and stockings. Her right hand shields her genitals and her right foot is perched on a dove. From above an arm, recognisable by the flounced sleeve as that of Lysistrata, reaches after her.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent","id":"A8134"},"association":{"text":"draughtsman (artist)","id":"AAT112172"},"note":"after"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"collotype","id":"AAT53204"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Collotype print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Gender and Sexuality","id":"THES48940"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2023NN7196","2013GA4105","2006AU1546"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"I","shelf":"50","box":"D"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1929","earliest":"1924-01-01","latest":"1933-12-31"},"association":{"text":"printed and published","id":"x35383"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.298-1972","id":"O685620"},"association":"Original"},{"object":{"text":"E.347-1972","id":"O685586"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"Given by Mr Vyvyan Holland","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"262","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"181","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"343","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"250","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'AUBREY BEARDSLEY'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"signature"}],"objectHistory":"One of eight plates by Beardsley for <i>The Lysistrata of Aristophanes</i> London: Leonard Smithers, 1896.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Collotype print after Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98), 'Two Athenian women in distress', from <u>The Lysistrata of Aristophanes</u>, 1896.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Aristophanes. <u>The Lysistrata of Aristophanes: now first wholly translated into English and illustrated with eight full page drawings by Aubrey Beardsley</u>. London: L Smithers, 1896. 61p, 8 plates."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Reade, Brian. <u>Aubrey Beardsley</u>. 1969. Cat. 467"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Samuels Lasner, Mark. <u>A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of Aubery Beardsley</u>. 1995. Pp 67-8, cat 107 D."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1945</u>, London: HMSO, 1956."}],"production":"The collotype reproductions made from the original drawings in about 1929 can be recognised by the distinctive watermark in the paper comprising the initials <i>AB</i> in a circle.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"buttocks","id":"x39640"},{"text":"rope","id":"AAT14248"},{"text":"stockings","id":"AAT46088"},{"text":"shoes","id":"AAT46065"},{"text":"slippers","id":"AAT46083"},{"text":"bird","id":"x35043"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"escape","id":"x40623"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.747-1945"],"accessionNumberNum":"747","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1945,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-12","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-27","availableToBook":false}}