Didier Semin's 'Mémoires de L. Smithers' Examines Aubrey Beardsley's Life

Didier Semin's book 'Mémoires de L. Smithers' focuses on the relationship between Aubrey Beardsley and his publisher Leonard Smithers. Born in 1872, Beardsley was a key figure in the late 19th-century avant-garde, associated with Oscar Wilde and the Art Nouveau movement. He defended advertising posters aesthetically. After Wilde's arrest, Beardsley was dismissed from The Yellow Book. His final years, spent in Paris, the Côte d'Azur, and Dieppe, were under the patronage of Raffalovich, who hated Wilde. Smithers, introduced by Wilde, co-founded The Savoy with Beardsley. After Beardsley's death in 1898 at age 26, Smithers disobeyed his wish to destroy his erotic works. Semin adopts Smithers's perspective to illuminate Beardsley's secrets.