ALASTAIR: ILLUSTRATOR OF DECADENCE

VICTOR ARWAS here gives a portrait of a fascinating and elusive personality who was the natural heir to the style and reputation of Aubrey Beardsley and whose work forms a link between the decadence of the 1890s and the frivolity of the 1920s.

Alastair, a pseudonym for Hans Henning Voight (1887-1969), specialized in illustrating the plays, novels and short stories from his favorite period - the 1890s. His most celebrated author was Oscar Wilde, but he also illustrated the classic eighteenth- century erotic novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos; Walter Pater; and Manon Lescaut, the Abbé Prévost's famous love story. He was first published by John Lane, who had also published Beardsley and Oscar Wilde, and also produced many portrait drawings of contemporary personalities, among them Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse and Polaire.

Although his style of drawing bears a marked resemblance to Beardsley's, it remains unmistakably original and personal. His strange beings with their ornate decorations mirror his love of the theatrical and the occult. However attractive they may be, they always include a sinister element which prevents them from lapsing into mere prettiness.

96 illustrations, 4 in color.