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Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)

Aliases: Henry Maximilian Beerbohm; Max Beerbohm

Professions: Caricaturist; Illustrator

  • Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)

  • BEERBOHM, MAX.

  • SIR MAX BEERBOHM 1872-1956

  • Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956)

Sir Max Beerbohm Biography

(b london, 24 aug 1872; d rapallo, 20 may 1956). english caricaturist and writer. he was educated at charterhouse and merton college, oxford, and in the 1890s showed precocious gifts of observant figure sketching. his usual style of single-figure caricatures on formalized groupings, drawn in pen or pencil with delicately applied watercolour tinting, was established by the time he came of age and flourished until c. 1930. in contrast to the narrative jocosities of the punch tradition he showed a lightness of touch and simplicity of line that owed more to the traditions of the literary epigram than to any overall accomplishment in draughtsmanship. the influence of french cartoonists, such as those the pseudonymous ‘sem’ (georges grousset) and ‘caran d’ache’ (emmanuel poiré), was more important than a by-then stale english tradition of caricature. usually inept with hands and feet, beerbohm excelled in heads and with dandified male costume of a period whose elegance became a source of nostalgic inspiration. his small but exquisite literary output, including the novel zuleika dobson, or an oxford love story (1911), was matched by collections of illustrative work, such as caricatures of twenty-five gentlemen (1896), the poets’ corner (1904) and rossetti and his circle (1922/ r 1987; all london). he published widely in fashionable magazines, and his works were exhibited regularly in london at the carfax gallery (1901–8) and leicester galleries (1911–57). after his marriage in 1910 he settled in italy, living quietly at rapallo, where he drew and wrote infrequently and decorated books in his library (sold london, sotheby’s, 12 and 13 dec 1960). there he indulged in nostalgia for a world peopled by late victorian and edwardian political, literary and theatrical eminences, in which the court of edward vii had a special place as a subject for affectionate ridicule. he was knighted in 1939.

Grove Art excerpts - Electronic ©2003, Oxford Art Online

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Sir Max Beerbohm Sold at AuctionView all Sir Max Beerbohm Sold at Auction

  • SIR MAX BEERBOHM, 1872-1956, Sir Max Beerbohm, Click for value View Details
  • SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES (<i>1837-1909, poet</i>) AND WATTS-DUNTON, THEODORE (<i>1832-1914, poet, novelist, critic and companion of Swinburne</i>), Sir Max Beerbohm, Click for value View Details
  • Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956), Sir Max Beerbohm, Click for value View Details
  • BEERBOHM, Max (1872-1956) -- <I>Souvenir of the Charing Cross Hospital Bazaar held at the Royal, Sir Max Beerbohm, Click for value View Details
  • [SHAKESPEARE, William (1564-1616)]. BEERBOHM, Max (1872-1956). View Details
  • BEERBOHM, MAX. Caricatures of Twenty-Five Gentlemen., Sir Max Beerbohm, Click for value View Details

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