The Stomach Dance
Date1906
Artist
Aubrey Vincent Beardsley
(British draftsman, illustrator and writer, 1872–1898)
Illustration CitationA Portfolio of Aubrey Beardsley's drawings illustrating "Salome," by Oscar Wilde (John Lane: London, c. 1906)
MediumOffset lithograph
Dimensionscomposition: 8 3/4 × 6 5/16 in. (22.2 × 16 cm)
sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (33.7 × 26 cm)
sheet: 13 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (33.7 × 26 cm)
Credit LineAcquisition Fund, 2010
Object number2010-31.11
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPRINT
Label TextWilde’s gifted copy of the play is inscribed, “For Aubrey: for the only artist who, besides myself, knows what the dance of the seven veils is, and can see that invisible dance.” The actual description of the dance in the text is quite minimal, as this would have been conveyed on stage by the dance itself. This allows Beardsley to “see it” and convey it of his own imagination. The figure with musical instrument at lower left alludes both to the musicality of the dance and the rhythmic, cadenced nature of Wilde’s prose.
