BON MOTS AND GROTESQUES

To critics who said that the full-lipped so-called Beardsley mouth , which adorned many of his women, was inexpressive and ugly , the artist countered, Well, let them criticise. It s my mouth and not theirs. I like big mouths. People like the little mouth - the "Dolly Varden" mouth, if that describes it better. A big mouth is the sign of character and strength. Look at Ellen Terry with her great, strong mouth. In fact, I haven t any patience with small-mouthed people. The popular idea of a picture is something told in oil or writ in water to be hung on a room s wall or in a picture gallery to perplex an artless public. To my mind, there is nothing so depressing as a Gothic cathedral. I hate to have the sun shut out by the saints. What a nice ample creature George Sand is: like a wonderful old cow with all her calves. And other witty, urbane insights on life, art, and culture, illustrated with selected drawings from his Grotesques series.